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What will the future hold for ASG?
As campaigning begins for the top Associated Student Government positions, here is a closer look at each of the candidates
The Advocate
Danielle Pannell - ASG Presidential Candidate
Born and raised in the South, 26-year-old Danielle Pannell said moving to Oregon was like experiencing a whole new world.
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“Oregon is so much more accepting of diversity than the South,” she said. “We didn’t have clubs for LGBQT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Queer and Transsexual) students and you never saw interracial couples together.”
Despite the close-mindedness of her Hot Springs, Ark., upbringing, Pannell said she has always been an open-minded individual. “I have always been accepting of people. It’s just about making everyone feel welcome.”
After moving to Oregon with her husband Kevin last August, Pannell decided to join ASG and she is currently the director of state and federal affairs. Alongside her runningmate, Director of Diversity Rae Nichelle-Peres, she hopes to make diversity a major platform in their campaign. “We wanted make sure everyone is treated equally and we want to make sure everyone is culturally competent,” she said.
“There are so many advantages to being around people with other cultural backgrounds.” Another item on her agenda that Pannell would like to accomplish would be to “make student government the voice of the students again.” She wants to do this by interacting with the students more on campus.
Working since the age of 15 and being the oldest of six children, Pannell thinks she has the drive and experience to become the leader of student government next year. “I want it because I want to learn and grow,” she said.
Pannell believes she would be a good president because “I’m a very positive and upbeat person who always gives 100 percent or more because there is always someone that’s going to give more. (As the director of state and federal affairs) I’ve been able to spend the last four months with the legislators and I think I will be able to motivate the rest of the staff. I want to help develop the leaders of tomorrow,” she said. “I also want to be the person people look up to and can come to. I just care and I am dedicated. Just knowing that people look up to me is enough to keep me going.”
Rae Nichelle-Peres - ASG Vice Presidential Candidate
Growing up in a military family, ASG Director of Diversity and Vice Presidential candidate Rae Nichelle-Peres said she had several important skills instilled in her from an early age.
Born at an Air Force base in Turkey, Peres moved many times as a child, ending up in Daly City, Calif., where her family eventually settled. With a military father and a supportive mother, she said she developed discipline and a work ethic that would carry her through some of the most difficult times in her life.
The 29-year-old believes that due to her upbringing and experience, she is fully capable of taking on the role as the 2009-2010 ASG vice president. “I tend to be a multi-tasker. I can take on several tasks at once, and then I prioritize,” she said. “I had several years of private school which really prepared me for college.”
Peres attended San Francisco State University, but dropped out after one year because many of the classes and programs she had enjoyed were cut. After leaving college, she worked a number of jobs, but none of them made her truly happy.
While working a steady office job, she said she began feeling dead inside. She did not begin feeling satisfied until she moved to Oregon, shortly after receiving her domestic partnership with life partner Heather Nichelle-Peres, director of the Student Activities Board (SAB).
Following the move to Oregon, Peres joined ASG with more than a little prompting from Heather, and she never looked back. Currently, as the director of diversity, she feels she has finally found something worth doing and pursuing.
“As director of diversity, I take it very seriously. Diversity is everything that makes you an individual,” she said. “I want people to feel that they belong.”
As a diverse Filipino, Hispanic, and Jewish lesbian woman, Peres understands what it is like to feel that she does not belong, and she wants to utilize her plethora of life experiences to help others. “I am finally confident and secure in myself but it didn’t used to be that way. You must allow yourself time to grow and you need to find yourself. I found myself,” she said. “I’m not lost anymore and I have Mt. Hood to thank for that.
Bradley Best - ASG Presidential Candidate
As a single parent, a student and an ASG senator, 29-year-old Bradley Best has gained a respect for those who can seemingly handle it all.
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Best, a candidate for ASG president, has two daughters with his estranged wife and he keeps busy by participating in campus life and by taking care of his 9-year-old, Phoenix. Best’s other daughter, 10-year-old Anjelique, lives in Montana with his family.
Raised in Billings, Mont., the ASG senator grew up in a very diverse household alongside an African-American stepfather and stepsiblings. He met his real father, a Montana state representative, only twice once he reached adulthood. He said the sobering meetings later instilled in him the drive to always be a part of his daughters’ lives. By realizing what he had missed by not knowing his biological father, he said he learned how important being a parent really is.
Because he dropped out of high school and eventually worked his way toward going to college, he implanted in his children the idea that education is the key to many opportunities. “I use education as the backbone for everything,” he said.
When Best arrived at MHCC, he had no idea that childcare and other resources were available to student parents on campus. One of his top priorities is to find a way to get this and other information to struggling parents on campus. “One big part of our platform is going to be about making our resources known at MHCC,” he said.
Also in regard to education, the candidate said he would like to begin working toward eliminating the community college stereotype. “Community colleges have a stigma that they aren’t as good as universities. They are funded as second class, but they aren’t second class,” he said. “To get that stigma off will be very hard.”
Best, who joined the ASG Senate in spring 2008, said he is running for president because he thinks he can make a difference on campus by utilizing his experiences from both in and out of the classroom. “The experience I have was my main drive and motivation,” he said. “I’ve tried to put my foot in every doorway here.”
L. John King - ASG Vice Presidential Candidate
ASG vice presidential candidate L. John King probably would not consider himself an inspiration, at least not to anyone but his five sons.
However, King’s story is one of sincere motivation and great courage.
Nearly four years ago, King was mugged, and in the process, he received a blow to the back of the head, producing a cerebral bleed in his brain. The original injury caused him major problems, but his injuries might not have been as severe if the car accident he was involved in a year later hadn’t caused further damage.
According to King, his main problem now lies within his ability to retain short-term memories. Because of his injury, the married father of five had to leave his job as a respiratory therapist because he was no longer able to perform his duties.
In the process, his marriage also began crumbling and he and his wife eventually got a divorce.
At the time, King spent nights sleeping in his car and he thought that life couldn’t seem to get any worse – but one thing kept him going. He still had his sons, ranging in age from 13 to 21, to fight for. After some time, King qualified for disability assistance and told himself that he would only be on it for a year, and then he would go back to school to become an inspiration for his children.
Since coming to Mt. Hood Community College, King has found a new lease on life and he wants to help other students. “Anytime you go through a hardship, it makes your levels of compassion so much greater,” he said. “We should all be thankful for the obstacles and difficulties we face because it makes our lives that much better.”
Because King foresees his children becoming students at MHCC in the future, he now wants to be a part of the process to help make the campus the best institution it can be. “I almost feel parental when I walk around this campus, because I have five boys and this is probably the route they are going to take,” he said. “I want to help keep the standards up here. I also want to see this as a college where people actually move here to come to school.”