Sophomore Justin Trevino, majoring in video game development here at St. Edward’s, is another hopeful vice president candidate for the university’s Student Government Association.
“Some people say I’m very enthusiastic, charismatic and sometimes loud,” Trevino said.
In senior year of high school, Trevino was president of his local branch of the National Honor Society. This experience taught him the advantages of working in student government, and he joined SGA as soon as he enrolled at St. Edward’s in the Fall of 2022.
“I noticed student governments are a good way to get involved, because you work a lot with organizations, and you work a lot with people,” Trevino said.
If elected, Trevino said he especially looks forward to working with Pride Club to talk about “representation, disability, just a lot of different identities on campus.”
Along with that initiative, Trevino made it clear that his campaign priorities are inclusivity and diversity.
“I want to promote more of that inclusivity, more of what makes St. Edward’s so great,” he said. “I definitely want to do that. Like when students come here, like, make them feel welcome, because a lot of our campaign is just making people feel included.”
While inclusivity is something Trevino wants to continue to work on, the current inclusive community at St. Edward’s is one of his favorite things at the university.
“I just love passing by, saying ‘hi’ to people, seeing people sit outside of the coffee shop… I just love seeing everybody feel included here, and I kind of want to amplify that to the max,” Trevino said.
Trevino has a number of initiatives planned to foster the amplification of school diversity.
“Me and presidential candidate Luis Rios want to implement a dog park by Maryhill,” Trevino said. “That way people with dogs can have a little hangout area. Maybe even water fountains for dogs.”
When asked to elaborate on what Rios’s campaign would do specifically for the LGBTQ+ community, Trevino had this to say:
“Well, I know one thing [Rios] wanted to do was bring the pride flag back in the coffee shop,” Trevino said. “We’re trying to do something like that, to just bring a lot more representation and find a lot more, I guess, symbols here on campus to represent that.”
Trevino puts a lot of emphasis on symbols. When asked about what some perceive to be this university’s failure to adequately accommodate for disabilities, Trevino explained that felt a solution was already well under way. He and St. Edward’s alum Emma Viquez spent the previous semester working on a QR code for students to report any complaints that they had.
“That’s just one of the ways we’re trying to make this place more accessible,” Trevino said.
Trevino wants to stress to potential voters his singular dedication to this university.
“If I had an infinite amount of time, I would just spend it at St. Edward’s,” he said.
