De Anza Student Government (DASG) hosted a presidential candidate debate on Feb. 28 at the A & B conference room in the Hinson Center.

During the annual campaign, presidential and vice-presidential candidates can provide their insights by answering questions asked by the DASG election committee.

The candidates for the 2024-2025 DASG president and vice-president positions are the following:

• Joe Maggard (President) & Thomas Cheung (VP)
• Luca Paliska (President) & Aura Ozturk (VP)
• Tony Yoo (President)

Bryan Hernandez-Cruz, who was officially running for president dropped out from the campaign.

Maggard, 20, a business admin major, seeks to create new opportunities with De Anza’s increased tuition costs.

“The need to increase the tuition costs also presents a new opportunity for us. We can fund new programs and events that would help students, especially international students like my vice-presidential candidate, Cheung, so that they won’t have to go out their way to other campuses just to find opportunities like internships that we should have on our campus as well,” Maggard said.

Cheung, 19, a computer science major and international student from Hong Kong, shares a similar goal with Maggard in utilizing the increased tuition as efficiently as possible for the De Anza student community.

“I like to connect with people and students, and I believe that the most important thing is to achieve the goal for students who need extra counseling resources to be available so that they can figure out their educational plan,” Cheung said.

Paliska, 19, a computer science major, aims to strengthen the communal bonds within the De Anza community.

“My general goals are to improve the students’ quality of life on campus. By improving the communication between the finance committee and ICC, the students will improve their quality of life, especially for international students who have an extremely high cost of living,” Paliska said.

Ozturk, the vice-presidential candidate with Paliska, could not attend the presidential debate due to an academic schedule conflict.

Yoo, 25, a bioengineering major, believes his leadership experiences from the Republic of Korea and US Army could be transferred to make a difference in the De Anza community.

“After serving in the military during my early 20s through Army service, I can apply that leadership experience and support the people who need help,” Yoo said.

The DASG elections will close on March 8 at 4 p.m.
Students can vote using their CWID and MyPortal password at deanza.edu/studentvote.