Last Minute Inter-Club Council Positions Filled

The three running candidates for the ICC Communications Officer position (left to right) Nia Mou, Maritza Lopez and Timmy Thompson lean against the wall as they await the results at the Santa Monica Main Campus in Santa Monica, Calif. Photo by Ethan Lauren

The Santa Monica College Inter-Club Council (ICC) filled in its final vacant position, Communications Officer on Thursday, September 21st, which occurred during the bimonthly ICC meetings at 4:00-5:00p.m in HSS 165.

Three candidates chose to run for this position, and were given three minutes to talk to the audience. The audience largely consisted of delegates, the school's club representatives, who vote during the meetings.

Two of the candidates, Timmy Thompson and Nia Mou, talked about their previous experience in a leadership position. But the majority of club delegates ended up voting for Maritza Lopez, an 18-year-old Art History major who is currently a sophomore at SMC.

Previously the ICC delegate for the Adelante club on campus, Lopez has volunteered for two non-profits and been involved in multiple student organizations, including Alpha Gamma Sigma, a honor society on campus. She also works in the counselling complex.

“My first year of being here I was completely lost. So, I don’t want any other first-year students coming and saying, ‘Oh, I didn’t know there was a club named this or a program named that," Lopez said. In order to be officially recognized as a running club by the college, members had to submit the proper paperwork to the ICC.

The responsibilities of the Communications officer include maintaining the minutes and agenda for the ICC meetings, as well as the contact information between clubs. Candidates who wish to run for the position of Communications Officer must be either a president or delegate for a club, and give up their current position in their club if they are elected.

All the clubs on campus are required to have a delegate attend the ICC meetings. These meetings allow the clubs to provide their input on upcoming events and keep up to date on what is being planned on campus.

The Communications Officer are one of the sixteen directors that make up the Associated Students, the student leaders of SMC. While thirteen of those focus primarily on the student body and general day-to-day operations of the campus, the Communications Officer is one of the three directors who make-up the ICC, a section that focuses on the student-run clubs on campus. All sixteen directors have a vote and say during the general AS. meetings.

Up until September 18th, 2017, five of the sixteen positions within the Associated Students for this fall semester remained vacant. These positions are typically filled in the previous semester, but were not this year due to the lack of candidates running.

The board consequently filled in four vacant positions this semester during their weekly meetings, which happen at 3 PM at the Cayton Center every Monday.

The Communications Officer was the last vacant position that had to be filled this semester.

The other positions within the ICC are chair and vice-chair, held by Kyana Shajari and Melisa Akkaya respectively. Up until the Communications Officer was found, the two had to manage the responsibilities between themselves.

Shajari said, “It was so hard. We had to do a lot of work on the agendas and meetings. We’re all really new to this so it was a big learning curve.”

She also expressed enthusiasm about the new Communications Officer. “I feel so happy and I feel she is going to be really capable. She looks like she knows what she is doing. She seems to know a lot of people so she can get the word out. I’m really excited about the next year," Shajari said.