Meet the 2019-20 Student Leadership

Campus: Riverland Community College-Austin
Elected office: President

My name is Oballa Oballa; I was born in Ethiopia and grew up in Kenya. I moved to the United States with my family in December 2013 as refugees in search of a better life and opportunities. But who is Oballa Oballa? I describe myself as ambitious, compassionate generous, passionate, persistent, and funny. I call myself ambitious because I have big dreams for my future and since I move to America, I have never stopped working hard to reach my dreams. I am compassionate about the pain that our students are going through, and this is the reason that I am passionate and working very hard to end hunger on our campuses. I am very active on my campus and within the community. I speak four languages; Anyuak, Arabic, English, and Swahili. During my free time, I enjoy going on road trips, playing soccer, cooking traditional food and perform standup comedy. I am currently serving as the Vice President of LeadMN and I would like to continue advocating for students and fighting for their rights.

1. What degree or certificate program are you seeking?
I am currently seeking an associate degree in Human Services and Liberal Arts from Riverland Community College. After graduation, I will go on to pursue a bachelor's Degree in Social Work from The College of St. Scholastica.

2. What are your future career plans?
After graduating with my bachelor's degree, I plan on pursuing my master's degree in Social work. Helping people in need is what I am the most passionate about. I want to work as a social worker in a Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) or a setting that will enable me to assist people with different needs. I have always had a passion for helping those who are in need and my career path will enable me to do so.

3. Please describe your previous student government or professional experience, and how it has prepared you for this position.
2014 was my first year in a Vocational School; I served as President of the Student Government Association at Boxelder Job Corps in Rapid City, South Dakota. It helped me grow as a person and improve on my leadership and communication skills. This experience motivated me to become a better leader and join the Student Senate when I enrolled at Riverland Community College. 

I was elected as the Public Relations Coordinator of the Austin senate for the year 2016-2017. In April of 2017, I was elected Student Senate President for Riverland Community College-Austin for the 2017-2018. I was also elected as LeadMN Platform Representative for Southeast Minnesota at the Spring General Assembly in the same year. As the Student Senate President at Riverland-Austin and LeadMN Southeast Region Platform Committee Representative. I am a board member for the Austin Human Rights Commission, which advocates for diversity and equality within the Austin community.

As Vice President of LeadMN, I have dedicated my time and passion to fighting food insecurity amongst college students across the state of Minnesota. This year I have traveled to numerous campuses to talk about how they are addressing food insecurity. Because of our efforts, over 25 campuses now have concrete action plans for address student hunger. I am so proud of the work we have done so far but I believe that we have more to do. We need to have our legislators backing us up in addressing this issue and I am working with them to create a "Hunger Free Campus" for our students by providing grant funding to students in need. Through the connections that I have already built and those that I plan to build in the future, I know that we can accomplish more and eradicate food insecurity in our colleges.

4. Why are you running for this position?
I am running for LeadMN President because I am still hungry for change. We have worked really hard starting from scratch to address food insecurity that is affecting our student and we have accomplished a lot of things in that short period of time, but we still have more to do to makes sure every one of our campus has food pantry or food shelf. Through our hard work and sharing our personal stories around food insecurity many of our students came forward and shared what they been hiding for long time.

We still have more work to do and bring changes to our two-year and technical college. I want to make sure our students voices are heard and that the Governor and our State understands the importance of education at two-year colleges and what students need to be successful.

Our politicians are no longer considering the importance of affordable education and that is why tuition at two-year colleges continues to increase and I am ready to lead the fight and tell them what we need to be successful and tell them we are still hungry for any change.

5. What challenges do you see facing Minnesota's community and technical college students?
The number one challenge students are facing at community and technical college right now is high tuition. College affordability is a huge problem in Minnesota. Students are working two jobs while attending school full time so they can cover their tuition. Some still can't afford college even though they work two jobs because of other financial expenses. We need to work towards an education system that is open and inclusive to all students. 

We believe that everyone should have the opportunity to achieve his/her/their dreams. Secondly, Food insecurity is another challenge that community college students are facing. It causes students to spend more time worrying about food and less time and resources focusing on their education. 

We need to continue addressing the issue of food insecurity on college campuses. Initiatives such as food pantries and food shelf are a great resource that can to be applied across Minnesota campuses. I want to work on a system that will help all students struggling with food insecurity and that is I support Hunger Free Campuses Act to support and create a food pantry for every campus.

Lastly, know that mental health challenges are a huge struggle that our students face. I want to tackle this issue and I look forward to learning more about how mental illness can affect students, and to listening to our students in order to learn more about how to address the issue next year.

Finally, our PSEO students are facing greater challenge of discrimination at their High school and this is not right. I will be working with our LeadMN PSEO students and look for some ways to end this mistreatment of our student. I will be open and listen to any issues that are facing.

Campus: North Hennepin Community College
Elected office: Vice President

Hi! My name is Priscilla and I'm the legislative coordinator for my student senate as well as the Advocacy Workgroup co-leader. I'm also Platform Committee representative for the Metro West region.This will be my second year on senate as well as first year on the Platform Committee. When i'm not working on Senate or LeadMN business, I enjoy reading, writing, cooking, watching TV (mostly animated), sleeping or working on my shared podcast. In the summer I do engage in a lot more activities such as visiting art spaces and museums, hiking, going to different farmers markets, volunteering in the children's department of my church etc. I'm friendly, fun and you'll usually find me engaged in an interesting conversation.

1. What degree or certificate program are you seeking?
I'm currently doing my generals but intend to major in Accounting with a minor study in Marketing or the other way around.

2. What are your future career plans?
My future career plans keep changing and expanding as the future gets closer. I have my sights set on working as a CPA or marketing manager for a few years and then getting a law degree. When I have attained the American dream i intend to settle properly into advocacy and policy work such as running an organisation like LeadMN or running for office.

3. Please describe your previous student government or professional experience, and how it has prepared you for this position.
I have almost two years of student government under my belt. In my first year of senate  participated extensively in different committees which gave me a good glimpse into how a college is run. In my second year, I currently work as the legislative coordinator working on policies that affect students on my campus alongside other top officials of the college. In the fall of '18 I headed and coordinated the GOTV campaign on my campus. I worked with a small team of people to create and then implement our action plan. I kept tabs on our goals and ensured that the campaign ran smoothly. As Platform Committee rep i also help conduct meetings alongside the GC rep as well checking in with the various campuses in the region and working on our collective goals. I also helped restart a club on my campus as the Vice President. My duties involve planning meetings and events with the president, checking in with other board members and communicating with student life and other staff members that could be of help to the growth of the club. A professional experience that has proved useful in my growth and prepared me for this position is the Events committee i sit on in my church. This committee plans all programming and events for the church. And i am placed in charge of a sub-group for every event we plan. From all these responsibilities I have learnt to not only work with a team but also manage one, I have learnt to be an active advocate by ensuring students rights are preserved, I understand a lot more on how colleges are run and can apply this knowledge when needed. Legislative duties such as GOTV are the responsibility of the VP which i already have experience with.

4. Why are you running for this position?
I am running for this position to ensure continuity of the work of the past cabinets as well as introducing new ideas. I enjoy advocacy and legislative work immensely, two important element of the position.I'm also running because this is a great opportunity for me to grow myself.

I love the work of advocacy and want to do more and learn how to do more. I also love to create, strategize and implement, skills that this position will put to use.

I have a very strong voice that is able to articulate issues as well as appropriately convey messages. An ability that is important for a position like this that involves testifying before legislators. Finally and most importantly, I'm running because I care deeply about issues that affect college student such as high cost of tuition and inadequate support for higher ed from the government, rising cost of textbooks and tools, food insecurity, homelessness and other various barriers that help to create an achievement gap.

5. What challenges do you see facing Minnesota's community and technical college students?
As always, a common challenge across the board is the high cost of tuition that then create other challenges for students. The ever increasing cost of books and materials used in more technical and hands on courses. Another challenge that thankfully got a lot of attention this year is food insecurity but also a number of community and technical college students are facing housing insecurity. Another common challenge is the lack of basic support and programs that students need to be successful such as counselling and mental health resources, advising and career counselling, accessibility services etc which can be attributed to the inadequate funding given to MinnState.

Campus: Mesabi Range College-Virginia
Elected office: Public Relations Coordinator

Hi! My name is Liz Bloch and I am a sophomore at Mesabi Range College- Virginia Campus. Because I waited five years to be able to afford college, I can’t quite wrap my head around how lucky I am to be able to receive such an incredible education. This waiting period has fueled my passion to create a system where everyone has access to affordable education.

I want to experience every aspect of college life fully, so you can find me working with students and faculty as our campus’s Student Senate President, LeadMN’s Platform Committee Member-at-Large, student representative on MnState's Academic Affairs Council, and as a member of Phi Theta Kappa Honor Society, MRC Diversity Committee, and MRC Student Life Budget Committee.

Professionally, I am a librarian for Eveleth Public Library where I get to meet many members of the community and plan programs that bring people together to learn, socialize, and have fun. My social hobbies include playing Dungeons and Dragons tabletop roleplaying game, relaxing to symphonic metal, and baking my favorite food-cheesecake. I’m running for Public Relations Coordinator because I believe in the power of people, working as one, to create positive change.

1. What degree or certificate program are you seeking?
Currently, I am working towards completing my first A.A. degree. I am considering majoring in Political Science as I have immensely enjoyed classes in this field. My passion lies in seeing issues from multiple perspectives, learning the history behind how where got to where we are today, and from there choosing the best course of enacting changes in politics and shaping our future.

2. What are your future career plans?
I am most passionate and invested when working in a career field involving some aspect of education and interpersonal communication. Therefore, I will earn a degree that allows me to focus my talents in teaching higher education, working as a college administrator, or as a professional in the library field. Libraries provide free access to lifelong learning opportunities for community development and colleges are a vital step in an individual's education. Additionally, these careers involve working with a wide variety of people and also facilitate the shaping of tomorrow's leaders who will contribute to the health of our communities.

3. Please describe your previous student government or professional experience, and how it has prepared you for this position.
My professional experience has improved my skills with managing social media platforms, interpersonal communication, conflict management, political advocacy, fundraising, and so on.

As Platform Committee Member-at-Large for LeadMN, I have experienced the wonderful opportunity to connect with students across the state about issues they are currently facing. Additionally, I have advocated on their behalf by adding to our platform document items that focus on these challenges so we can effectively address them as an organization. By representing students on the Academic Affairs Council, I have influenced those who shape the direction of education at a state level. Moreover, as Student Senate President on my campus, I have overseen or directly created our social media content. Not only do we have Instagram, Snapchat, Facebook, and so on, we are actively building our follower base. This year, by focusing engaging followers through creative and informative content, our Facebook followers went up by 14% since May 2018. I also managed the social media platforms for Garden Square Apartments as their leasing consultant as well as updating Eveleth Public Library's Pinterest boards.

Through conferences-such as Power in Diversity, Blandin Leadership Retreat, LeadMN's Democracy in Action-I have strengthened my ability to collaborate with others as an effective team member, improved my own leadership strategies, and learned a considerable amount about engaging others.

These skills will be crucial to the Public Relations Coordinator’s role of engaging students on campus and at conferences, attracting new allies outside of the college sphere who will support our initiatives, and working as a member of LeadMN’s Cabinet to advocate for students’ rights.

4. Why are you running for this position?
I love working with people! It has been amazing meeting student leaders from around the state through LeadMN. Supporting these students in achieving their goals of improving their campus communities and laying the foundation for affordable education is exactly what I am passionate about. Furthermore, as PRC, I want to ensure our efforts do not go unnoticed. Our victories will be loud, made public for our communities to observe. This will not only win LeadMN and community college students supporters across MN but will show the amazing power of organization and teamwork. This hope will ripple out to our hometowns, inspire others to help us or focus on their own initiatives, and little by little, we will create one vibrant, healthy, prosperous, educated MN.

5. What challenges do you see facing Minnesota's community and technical college students?
Students are facing challenges from all directions these days. With tuition cost and fees rising throughout the nation, it is imperative that we fight for affordable education. Doing so means continuing LeadMN’s work on implementing OERS, improving transfer pathways, addressing food insecurity, and more.

Furthermore, as students we are constantly faced with challenges, pressure, and stressful situations. It is vital that we provide effective and sufficient mental health resources on our campuses. I support changing policies that focus on implementing student self-care options, providing culturally relevant counseling, and overall improving mental health resources on campuses is throughout the next academic year.

Lastly, role of parenthood for nontraditional students that are raising families or caring for dependents, needs greater focus from higher education reforms. If their difficulties are not addressed-such as child care options, curriculum scheduling options, online learning availability, and so on-these students are likely to fall short of their full potential. I look forward to helping create policies that will help students succeed in their roles as both parents (or care givers) and students.

Campus: Minnesota State Community and Technical College-Moorhead
Elected office: Treasurer

My name is Britta Sather. As a child I lived with my brother and my mom. Being raising my a single parent is hard, and now being older understand why we moved from Minnesota to North Dakota when I was young. I am happy to say I went back to Minnesota to expand my horizons.

In high school, I was heavy involved in Theater Arts, but was fine with my voice being drowned out. I was the quite kid in the corner; thinking nothing I believe could ever change. I am happy now I realize that the voice is a powerful thing. I don't have to just sneak unjust issues into my stories.

As someone who loves writing I thrive off ideas. You may think you have this best solution, but when you talk to someone you come up with a even better idea. Other than writing I love anime, personality tests (mainly Myers Briggs), and hanging out with my cat with many names.

1. What degree or certificate program are you seeking?
I am currently seeking a A.A.S degree in Human Resources at Minnesota Community and Technical College, Moorhead. I do hope to go for a Bachelors degree, probably into Business, but I have no yet chosen which degree. I know from speaking with my advisor, and I agree, it's better to diversify.

2. What are your future career plans?
I have yet to pick between the two, but I would love to be a Human Resource Manager or help train and develop. I love figuring out how people think and feel; how they can use those into something they love.

3. Please describe your previous student government or professional experience, and how it has prepared you for this position.
I am the current Treasure of the M-State Moorhead campus, along with Amine-zing. Even with Anime-zing being more a low-key one, I believe both of them have helped me getting prepared for something bigger. I have always been interested in where my organizations have been sitting. In my Student Human Resource Organization (SHRO) as Vice President, I know I have asked our advisor for budget because no student formally does it. I like to think that because of this it's the reason I don't have to ask as much about it. I felt in the dark not knowing where we were sitting, but I don't need to worry about that anymore. Stepping away from the math side of this, I am the current Steering Committee chair, so I have been learning how to better run a efficient meeting.

4. Why are you running for this position?
I tell this story time after time. I was sick during my first GA, but from where I was still there to listen and learn; it put a fire under me. At the point I was questioning why I joined Student Senate, and I realized it there. I care so much, but I don't know how to use my voice. I want to be someone who can put that fire into others.

As others joke, my name is little the water filter Brita, but let me know you I am better than the filter. I don't want students thoughts and feeling to be filtered. As students we need to be heard. I feel like I hear that they will never know if they don't hear, but sometimes that's not good enough. You need keep pushing to let them know we are frustrated.

I believe my skill set is best used within the Treasure. I feel I will be able to do everything the job entails. Once I go into something, I do it 110%.

5. What challenges do you see facing Minnesota's community and technical college students?
There are so many things that students are facing today. It's so hard to just focus on just a few when the issues are so massive, but I have been able to narrow it down to a few.

We are still struggling with affordability. I was to focus on the debt free college, and trying to fix our state grant system. It is not fair to our students they get the least amount of money, when we have the most need.

The next is mental health. As someone who has depression and anxiety it is something near and dear to my heart. I am guilty of this as well, but so many students ignore help because of the stigma. It will not be an easy thing to end the stigma, but we can try and make it better. If schools do not have the councilors or social workers, it would be helpful to get have both community and online alternatives.

Like I have said before, there are so many different ones, so even though this next one is my final one written,  it will not stop be for fighting for other issues. I want to be able to support PSEO students, and help them not looked down upon their high school. There is nothing wrong with students wanting to better themselves even before they are out of high school. I'm proud of everyone young and old who choose to further their education.

Representative

Open Position
Alternate

Representative

Riley McMahon
Alternate

Chair

Open Position
Alternate