The uninitiated may wonder exactly what purpose student government serves at De Anza College. According to De Anza Student Body President Stephanie Lagos, De Anza’s student government is involved in all aspects of student life on campus.

From student’s rights to the ever-present concern of parking, De Anza College’s Student

Senate works alongside the school’s administration via shared governance to keep operations running smoothly.

Lagos describes her roles as that of an overseer making sure the Senate accomplishes what it needs to, and directing students with issues concerning happenings on campus to the appropriate ears.

In addition, presidential duties include running meetings, participating in shared governance committees — a duty shared by most of the other Senators –and the delicate task of allocating money generated by Senate sponsored flea markets and the payment of Student Body fees to campus activities and programs.

Stephanie Lagos’ own road to the presidency has been one of logical progression. When she began attending De Anza College two years ago she came from Hayward not knowing many people on campus and looking for direction.

Through classes in Political Science and Sociology she was introduced to the idea of civic

involvement and working for

positive social change and found herself involved in campus politics.

After serving on the Student Senate and as Vice President of Student Rights and Services, she has now signed on for a yearlong term as De Anza Student Body President.

During her term, Lagos will be faced with a good deal of internal senatorial business as the organization is currently undergoing a process of restructuring. Over the course of the year she hopes to address student senate issues that have not been addressed in the past and she also hopes to recruit more students for the fall.

According to Lagos, everyone on campus is affected by student government concerns. Therefore, everyone should be included. The more diverse the face of the student senate, the more representative it will be of the student body.

As a way to get more students involved, one of Lagos’ projects is a student government oriented web site that will offer such interactive features as electronic voting, posting boards for students, and teacher bios.

When asked what message she would like to convey to the student body, Lagos repeated her call for all students to get involved with student government.

For students whose class and work loads already seem heavy enough, she adds that most of the senate also has outside jobs and that senate hours are flexible.

Interested students can go the Student Activities Center. They can also look to the senator’s boxes in future editions of La Voz, a forum in which student senators will address the campus directly.