Elections for Cosumnes River College student government positions have officially ended, but the battle for amplifying the student voice is an ongoing effort, which is why student officials encourage more participation.

Vice President of the student senate Freddy Monde, a 25-year-old computer science major, is in charge of organizing the student elections as well as making sure students are aware of what is happening on their campus.

“Compared to last year this time around the elections weren’t that good,” said Monde. “It’s not that big of a difference, but we still don’t have enough student interest.”

Monde’s position as vice president may be extended due to a lack of candidates, it was originally supposed to end Thursday when the new student body is sworn in.

“I am going to ask to stay just for the time being until we find someone to take over for those positions, which may go until September 2017,” said Monde.

Current acting President Tony Tran, a 19-year-old film and digital cinema production major, is unsure whether he will stay until his position is filled due to his decision to switch his major.

“We understand everyone is busy,” said Tran. “It’s harder to find students who are willing to take out that extra amount of time and step into a position they have never been in.”

Student government is in charge of promoting the interests and rights of the students it represents in order to create a learning environment that fits the student’s needs.

“It is scary and almost a leap of faith, however we need students to take that leap and learn what leadership is all about,” said Tran. “If we had more students involved we would have a better collective voice from the student body as a whole instead of the few voices we do have.”

Although student participation may be low, the excitement to make a difference drives newly- appointed Trustee of the Los Rios School District, Evan Nguyen.

Nguyen, a 22-year-old sociology major, said he is very excited to begin advocating for his fellow schoolmates and to bring awareness to resources available to them.

“I know there is a plethora of resources that we have on our campus, but we don’t have awareness,” said Nguyen. “We don’t have students interacting enough to get these resources.”

Nguyen will begin his term as trustee during the summer and says he already has a few objectives he would like to focus on while working with the district.

“Two things I really want to lobby for is safety awareness and mental health resources,” said Nguyen.

With recent accounts of sexual assault cases reported on campus, as well as the 2015 school shooting incident at Sacramento City College, Nguyen says he intends to advocate these issues and other  to acquire more funding for informative events to help encourage students participation.

“We are giving a voice back to the students and trying to start the dialogue that students can actually make a difference,” Nguyen said.

Newly appointed student government officials Dario Grajeda and Sofia Rios-Dominguez will be sworn in as director of legislative affairs and senator, respectively.

The ceremony will be held Thursday in the Orchard Room at 1:30 p.m.