A.S. Discusses Holding Student Ball At Final Meeting

The last A.S. meeting of the year was a flurry of activity, as the board moved to pass a total of 11 major action items. Among the items passed were two projects that board members were personally interested in, namely an end year ball organized by the A.S. in lieu of a private celebration for themselves, as well as an effort to make SMC's designated smoking sections more eco-friendly.

The end of the year ball is a pet project of Director of Activities Saori Gurung. Gurung said that she thought of the event just two weeks ago. Gurung said, "I thought that I wouldn't be able to pull this off, but with [the rest of the A.S. board's] support, I did."

"This year, instead of regular banquet we were actually hoping to do a ball, which would be open to all students, and not exclusive to the current board and the next board," Gurung said. The ball would be open to all students with an A.S. card, though due to the small size of the venue, only 100 students will able to attend. 

Referring to the limited number of tickets available, Gurung said, "I couldn't get any big hotels or anything because of the limited time." 

The event will be held at the Culver Hotel at 6-10 p.m. on June 3. Tickets are available at the A.S. office in Cayton Center for students who RSVP'd. 

In the public comments section of the meeting, political science major Lucia Aguilar voiced her support for the event. "It would really bring about a boost of morale - in terms of creating community, I think the Ball would do that." Aguilar said, "A night of fun music and dance, how could you go wrong?"

In the same way that Gurung was personally invested in the end of the year ball, Sustainability Director Alexa Benavente felt very strongly about the proposal to make the designated smoking areas on campus more environmentally friendly. Her proposal provides for four cigarette butt receptacles, one at each of the smoking areas, as well as promotional material in multiple languages encouraging smokers to use the designated areas and receptacles.

Benavente and her commissioner, Joe Kolko, conducted surveys of students at the smoking areas to determine which languages are most commonly spoken by smokers at SMC, and will use the results of that survey to make the signage for smoking areas clear to as many students as possible. 

The proposal also provides for beautification of the smoking areas. Benavente said that A.S. was planning on "putting some succulents and plants around the smoking section, so it's a little more friendly and we can move the smokers to the right section instead of having them inside the school." Benavente said that she wanted to preserve the smoking areas as places for people to socialize, but also respect students who wish to avoid second-hand smoke.

Many of the other items passed, including the institutional boilerplate to facilitate the transition from this year's A.S. board to the next. Funding was provided for things like name plaques for the next A.S. board, as well as software licenses and repairs for the Cayton Center computer lab.