By Erin Miller

Editor in chief

Last spring, when the time came for students to declare candidacy for executive team elections, Omar Guzman stepped out of the running at the last minute.

Now, Guzman has earned a second chance at serving on the executive team. Guzman will be finishing the term begun by former Student Senate Vice President Karissa deKoning, who stepped down at the beginning of the semester.

``Since I've been on Senate, I saw the improvement that it's had,'' Guzman said. ``I think I could help a lot on Student Senate.''

Student Senate President Berniz Constanza said she was looking forward to working with Guzman.

``He's very self-motivated,'' she said. ``That's a quality we see in him. He takes initiative, he's very outgoing, he's good with people. That's something you need.''

In addition, Constanza said, she and the other executive team members also saw a strong desire to be a part of Student Senate in Guzman.

``When we interviewed him, you could notice the fire he had,'' she said. ``He's ready to go. I think that's what we need.''

Ability and willingness to communicate well with others were other selling points for Guzman, Constanza said.

``He's comfortable communicating,'' she said. ``We wanted someone who would communicate with the executive and Student Senate.''

Guzman served on Student Senate second semester last spring, and ran for the position of Finance Chair for this year. While he did not receive that position, he did try to keep up with what was happening with Student Senate.

Guzman's duties will include serving as the chair of the appointments committee, the committee that decides which students are placed on which committees in the spring for the following school year, sitting on the governance board, attending meetings with Student Senate teams leaders and attending executive meetings. He will also be responsible for putting together the spring town hall meeting.

While some students would be bored or frustrated with so many commitments, Guzman said he is looking forward to his duties.

``One thing I like is you're involved in a lot of things,'' he said. ``You're here to help students in any way you can.''

Guzman also responded to the suggestion that Student Senate is more theory and less action.

``Some things are theory,'' he said. ``You don't see a huge change. Other things, you can see it does help.''