Sophomore Leonel Alejandre Navarro is running for Associated Students president. Navarro is a business major, originally from Salinas, CA. His main objective in running is to help other students get more involved in campus life. 

“The reason why I want to become AS President is because I want students to know that they can get involved on campus,” Navarro said. “I had a friend drop out of school because she didn’t feel like she belonged.” 

Navarro’s objectives align with the goals of the organization, as stated on the Sonoma State website. According to the AS page, Associated Students is a student-run organization that promotes student interests in through advocacy. “The Associated Students, as a corporation owned and governed by students, supports a variety of programs, services and organizations to enhance the student experience at Sonoma State University,” the webpage states. 

If elected, Navarro plans to attend club meetings in order to ascertain the needs of the students so he can represent those needs. “If I get elected I will ask students what they want,” he said. “We have over 200 different clubs and I want to sit in on their meetings. I want to bring the title of AS president into meetings and show people that we actually care, to increase student involvement and school spirit.”

Another of Navarro’s passions is feeding people who are experiencing homelessness. He is actively involved in volunteer work making sandwiches in off-campus kitchens for those in need. “It feels good to know that you can actually help people,” he said. “If I was experiencing homelessness I would want people to help me.”

Navarro would bring his desire to feed people to Lobos Pantry, an on-campus space for students who don’t have reliable access to affordable food. He said that he has been to Lobos Pantry, and while he feels that it’s a great resource for students, he said it could be improved with the addition of fresh food. As of now, it provides only non-perishable items to students. “My priority in working with Lobos pantry is to get more perishable items to our students,” he said. 

Navarro said that students can expect him to be open-minded as AS president. “Most people are democrats,” he said. “But one of my friends is a republican. I’m just really opened minded to everything. If you vote for me I’m someone who is open to everyone. I accept everybody. I just want to get all the perspectives.”