ASU looks forward to a Happy Holiday

The Executive Board plans for a post-Thanksgiving charity event.

By Gene Wickham, Staff Writer

Thankful Thanksgiving project from ASU will provide 50 $100 Target gift cards to ASU students. (Illustration Courtesy of Valley College Associated Student Union)

During their Nov. 10 meeting, the ASU discussed food donations and gift cards as they prepared for the coming holidays and the midpoint of their administrative year.

The ASU’s holiday drive was discussed during the meeting. Referred to as “Thankful Thanksgiving,” the board plans to award 50 $100 electronic gift cards from Target to current Valley College students — who have paid their ASU fee — that submit a two-paragraph to one-page essay explaining who or what they are thankful for and how this grocery card will be helpful to them. The ASU approved $5,050 for the purchase of the Target E-cards.

Originally intended before Thanksgiving, the deadline has been moved to Nov. 27 at 5 p.m. and the distribution of the E-cards will be issued by the end of the second week of December. To apply, students can find the link for the application here. A school email is needed to sign in.

Phi Theta Kappa (PTK), a national honor society, requested a donation to support their holiday food drive. Former Health and Safety Commissioner and PTK Vice President Oscar Juvera applied for $500 from the board, which he said would be matched by PTK. However, due to the fact the drive would be on campus during the pandemic and no permissions were arranged with the college, the board voted against it.

The board welcomed Ethan Shalom, the new Inter-Club Council representative. Shalom’s duties include attending both the ICC and the Executive Council Meetings each week and acting as the liaison between each. Shalom fills a previously vacant position.

To show appreciation to the faculty, the board proposed a competition where ASU students could nominate two teachers for outstanding professors of the year.

“[The] ASU wants to recognize our amazing professors here at Valley that are doing their best effort during these unprecedented times,” said Emily Gutierrez, commissioner of publicity and social media.

The plan involved sending gift cards and baskets to the two winning professors during the holidays. As an incentive from the board, students who nominate teachers would be placed in a raffle to win a prize from the bookstore. However, during the discussion advisors told the board that students incentivizing other students to vote for teachers was against the rules, so the well-meaning proposal was voted down.

Gutierrez suggested opening a TikTok account for ASU. The Executive Board currently maintains Facebook, Twitter and Instagram accounts and also posts on the campus news web page, “Valley Weekly.” The discussion concerning TikTok was rejected after several compliance issues arose, including web and document compliance concerns. School documents are required to have Word, close caption and multiple platform access. The motion to open a TikTok account was voted down mostly because of the video-only nature of the platform, which limits access to many.

Treasurer Erica Fletcher attended the Enrollment Committee meeting, where the main topic was student enrollment.

“The student enrollment for fall 2020 was down 10 percent from last year,” she noted. “We basically discussed how to get people enrolled [and] how to reach people.”

The committee entertained suggestions including using student emails more effectively and possibly placing banners on Canvas to attract student attention.

The board discussed purchasing T-Shirts for their members in the previous meetings, which were under $100 each. After presenting an updated vendor page, which included sweaters and hoodies in the range of $100 to $500, the board was reminded they had previously agreed to T-Shirts. The motion for the T-Shirts was tabled until the next meeting.