Evelyn Sanchez: Newly elected, ready to serve

CAMPUS PROFILE:

Sitting in a small cubicle with notes hanging from the wall, her backpack under her desk in the EOPS center, she opened her desk drawer searching for a book she is reading about public speaking.

Evelyn Sanchez won the majority of votes at the SAC student government elections this spring naming her President, and the book “Speaking to Excel,” she hopes, will guide her in the maturation process of realizing her leadership qualities.

“She seems to be very concerned with others and not just her own advancements,” Communications Professor Larry Brown said.

At the age of six, Sanchez began to notice her nurturing potentials when she caught a frog and let it go during a family trip at the Colorado River in Laughlin, Nevada. She began to ponder the wonders of life and biology.

“When I was a kindergartner, I always wanted to be a veterinarian because I used to like to work with small animals,” Sanchez said. “I guess this is what got me into science.”

Whether she becomes a veterinarian, a biologist, a counselor or a politician, her mom will not be here to witness her accomplishments. She died of cancer 11 years ago. It was a tragedy that left her, her sister, brother and father without a nurturing mother to provide for them.

Now, Sanchez lives with her aunt near Costa Mesa, but her struggling, hard working, Catholic family immigrated to the United States when she was younger, from Mexico where her father currently lives in retirement, she said. She visits him twice a year.

While she sees her father sparingly, she likes to keep occasional contact with her sister, who she is close with, she said. Her sister moved north to marry a man in San Jose. Every three or four months she travels up north to rekindle the bond with her sister that helped mold her into the caring leader she has become. She also speaks with her through Facebook and email, she said.

Entering the student government at a time of a state budget crisis, Nadia Lopez said, puts a heavy burden on her shoulders, but the current out going president will leave her post knowing a determined person will represent the students at SAC.

“I think she will be a wonderful person for the job,” Lopez said. “She’s very passionate and dedicated.”

While completing her third year at SAC, she hopes to transfer to U.C. Davis or Berkeley after next year. But before she moves on, she plans on leaving the students in better shape.

Her plans are to better inform the students, faculty and staff and to get them more involved. At the public forum held at The Spot earlier this semester to promote her self before the student elections, Sanchez echoed the words of John F. Kennedy by placing the onus on students to inform ASG of problems and to help with change.

“If I can fill up classes with students such as her … you wouldn’t want to leave this job,” Brown said.