The 2024/2025 academic year at San Diego City College may be running out, but the voting for the new Associated Students Government has just begun.
Voting for the new ASG executive board is now open and will continue through Saturday, May 3. Students should have received an email with voting material via their SDCCD student email.
As the current ASG members reflect on their time, they look to finish strong this spring. There is a lot to look forward to on campus as events are lined up until the final graduation sends students and faculty off into the summer break.
The student leaders will continue to grapple with questions of safety on campus, building community and managing the budget.
While we sunset on this year’s Associated Students Government, we usher a new crop of leaders whose task will be to jump into the space with hopes of tackling the campus’ toughest issues.
City Times Media sat down with six potential student leaders, all of whom look to take charge as members of the City College Associated Student Government in 2025/2026.
ASG President
A year removed from a delay in the student election process due to lack of applications for Associated Student Government, two candidates are now vying for next year’s top job.
ASG President is a crucial position. They not only lead the student government at City, but are also appointed to a seat on the San Diego Community College Board of Trustees.
As a freshman, history major ASG presidential candidate Ricardo Martinez said he loves City College and recognizes this unique opportunity to serve his fellow students.
If elected as ASG President, Martinez said he would strive to increase engagement with student clubs. The history major believes he has an approachable demeanor and encourages students to come to him with questions about issues that matter most to them.
“I am a student first, after all, I’m in class and in (the) hallway,” Martinez said. “You see me. Always ask me, and always hold me accountable. I’m not your superior. I am your fellow.”
As current Senate Vice President, Martinez credits his team for their success this past year and states his desire to run for office is due to a lack of involvement in student affairs while in high school.
“I really do think I have good cards that I can always bring to any table that I have here at San Diego City with ASG,” Martinez said. “I started off as Senate Secretary and now I’m Senate Vice President. We’ve brought so many wonderful events like the Women’s History Month conference and the Dia de Los Muertos week. I think we have delivered and we can continue delivering. So that’s why I’m involved in SD. I love my team. They’re all wonderful people.”
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Political Science major Celina Martinez is running for ASG president as a way to help students access career opportunities and improve upon San Diego City College’s academics.
As a first-generation student, Martinez recognizes that many students lack access to networking for professional development. She aims to expand on the work being done by the Transfer Center through career and transfer fairs so students can meet recruiters and college representatives.
“I believe that it’s best to create a space where students can have access to those opportunities and also be able to represent because it’s important in today’s society,” Martinez said.
Martinez believes it’s important for student voices to be heard. She created City College’s first mock trial team as a way for students to improve their public speaking skills.
Martinez plans on introducing a complaint system for students to directly voice their concerns to the president.
ASG Vice President
Alexandra Gutiérrez is running for Vice President and is a double major in political science and history. Her current role with ASG is as a Health Safety & Environmental Officer, but she believes she can do more with a higher-level position.
Gutiérrez is focused on campus cleanliness and student safety, acknowledging the sense of unease among students after a series of incidents on campus this semester.
“I do feel there is a lot of unsafety here on campus,” Gutiérrez said. “That’s one of my issues I do want to tackle. But I do want to talk to my executive board about what they feel we could do to improve the security on campus.”
Gutiérrez believes safety is essential for a welcoming and community-oriented campus for students.
ASG Secretary
Carolina Prado is a freshman psychology major running for ASG Secretary. Having graduated from Sweetwater High School in National City, she has been a member of ASG since attending City College during the winter 2024 semester. Prado sees her role as senate secretary as an opportunity for change.
When asked about food accessibility on campus, Prado stated that she wanted to make some improvements for underage students.
“For example, I don’t really like the fact that for the cafeteria, we can only use credit cards,” Prado said.
While it is possible for students to use cash via the Company Kitchen App, the process is complicated and not explained to new students.
“For example, my first time here, I was 17 years old still and didn’t have a debit card or credit card, so I was kind of like, stuck, and also because I didn’t know about the food pantry,” Prado said.
Prado said that campus security is an important issue for her, but was hesitant to commit to adding more cameras.
“Because cameras, even though they were not being watched, like 24 hours, they would invade our privacy as students and our staff,” Prado said.
ASG Treasurer
Armando Cuevas Guzman is running for ASG Treasurer. He is majoring in Accounting and hopes to transfer to the University of California, Irvine. He’s also training with the cross-country team to join the team in the Fall.
Guzman feels like there is a lack of student involvement and wants to help create more events that will encourage students to be on campus. Guzman wants to have first-hand experience learning and managing the budgeting for ASG.
During Guzman’s first year at City he felt like he wasn’t involved in campus life. He was guiding himself through campus picking basic classes without knowing he could ask for help.
“I feel like (students) are not very involved within the community here,” Guzman said. “We hope to improve that. I want students to know the resources and that there are all these options and career paths available to them here on campus.”
Through ASG, he has found himself becoming more social towards his classmates in order to get to know people on campus. Guzman likes to hang out with classmates and friends while attending campus events.
He hopes by being Treasurer, he can learn about funding events to bring to life here at City.
Senate President
Esteban Duran is running for Senate President. He is currently undecided on his major, but he does plan to pursue political science. He plans to pursue a degree in law after transferring to a four-year university. Duran also enjoys gaming in his spare time, and believes in and practices witchcraft. ASG has allowed him to share his personality, and he wants to give that chance to others.
“I want to run for Senate President because I firmly believe that every student deserves a chance to shine in the light and give their own opinion,” Duran said. “Whether they’re a new student, returning student, or a vet, whatever the case, they all deserve equal time.”
Duran feels that City College already does a great job of creating a sense of community in a way that only a college the size of City can do. He believes that without overflowing lecture halls, it gives people a much better chance to connect.
ICC President
Sergio Montiel, a History and Chicano studies major, is running again for ICC President at the last minute, as he previously planned to term out. His transfer opportunities ran into some issues, and he was unable to transfer. As a two-year institution, Montiel believes it’s even more imperative that transfer opportunities and the transfer center present all their information clearly.
“My main thing was access to information, because a lot of times the people who know will not let you know,” Montiel said. “And then you just kind of get lost in the fold.”
However, despite the current issues City College is facing, Montiel truly loves being in ASG and believes he and the other candidates can make a difference. When Montiel began his journey at City College, he was angry and lost, but found himself through ASG and MEChA (a student organization focused on Chicanx and Latinx activism).
“Being involved within City College and getting into these positions in ASG and in MEChA made me realize, exactly like, what I stood for and who I was in the end,” Montiel said.
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Among the many issues that the new ASG cohort will face; increased security on campus, access to more healthy food options for students, a continuation of the tradition of diversity at City and to uphold the City motto of “Be, Belong, Become” the election process is the first step for the prospective ASG members.
Student’s options for ASG have become more abundant this year. Voting begins on Monday, April 28 thru Saturday, May 3. Students can access voting material via their SDCCD student email. Results will be announced on Friday, May 16 at 1 p.m. at the regularly scheduled ASG meeting.
Edited by Danny Straus and Nadia Lavin
