By Jessica Bollinger | Staff Reporter

As spring quarter heads into full swing, students flood the SUB and Gwinn Commons, fitting in some last-minute homework while also preparing for midterms, which are set to begin in a couple weeks’ time.

With the 2017-2018 school year almost over, students find themselves in a time of change.

With not only the weather changing, another group of students prepare for graduation and the campus is preparing for a shift in student body officers.

ASSP plays a major role in keeping open communication between the students and administration at SPU. They oversee matters that are important to students and make them aware to the administration.

“I know they are the liaison between the student body and the administration,” third-year Monica Moeng said. “They are in charge of student events and financing.”

The Core group is made up of one president and five vice presidents.

This year, ASSP Core includes: Mary Liu as president, Danielle Meier as executive vice president, Kathryn Baumheckel as vice president of ministries, Melissa Del Rio as vice president of intercultural affairs and Garrett Berkey as vice president of campus activities. Currently, there is no vice president of finance.

Though ASSP’s Core team went through a couple of position changes this year, their main priority was serving the students.

“It was nice to see how the team worked together even with all the changes they went through,” Moeng said.

With the recent ASSP election, some students have taken the time to dwell on what they know about ASSP, what the Core has done for the student body during this last school year and what they hope to see in the upcoming school year with a fresh group of students in office.

The Core next year will include Nathan Samayo as president, Kaitlyn Payton as executive vice president, Andy Spalletta as vice president of ministries, Drew Cortez as vice president of intercultural affairs, Celeste Ajayi as vice president of campus activities and Sarah Kirschner as vice president of finance.

Though ASSP works to continue to keep this open conversation, many students at SPU are unaware of what exactly ASSP does. Some are even unaware of who and what ASSP is.

“Yes, I know what ASSP is, but I haven’t heard much about it until the elections,” second-year Stephanie Dang said.

For many, all they know about ASSP is that they oversee student events on campus, that they are meant to be the voice of the student body.

On the other hand, others do not know about the policies and changes that ASSP puts forth on campus.

“They should use orientation as a time to let people know who they are and what they do,” third-year Davide Buniatyan said.

Some students even suggested ASSP reaching out to those in the dorms, having a bigger presence in the halls on campus to help students be more aware of how involved ASSP is in student life.

“It’s things on a day-to-day basis we don’t think can change, but ASSP does change them,” Moeng said.

Besides a better advertisement of who ASSP is and what they do, students also had a few ideas for policies and changes they would like to see in the future on campus.

“I would like them to put on more events that focus on serious topics that affect the whole campus, such as race, equality, women’s issues and mental health issues,” third-year student Brooke Vigil said.

Buniatyan would like for them to focus more on culture.

“We need more culture, we are not diverse enough. We need more people who are willing to learn more,” he said.

Students want to learn more about ASSP, but they also want to make sure their voices are heard and that the next group of ASSP officers make tangible changes.

“I think it will be an exciting year,” third-year Jordan Bettencourt said. “The leaders are very vocal about their wants and needs.”