With the 2023 elections for Associated Students Inc. having determined next year’s board of directors, plans to better serve California State University, Bakersfield students in the upcoming year are already in effect.

The 2023-2024 ASI Board of Directors will be led by Daisy Alamillo, the current vice president for university affairs. The rest of the board consists of Ignasio Castillo as executive vice president, Alejandro Romero as the vice president of campus life, Taylor Thomas as the vice president of legislative affairs, and Larry Gonzales as vice president of university affairs.

On April 12, there was a runoff election to determine the vice president of finance between Kayla Medina, current ASI director of outreach, and Coby Nguyen, current ASI chair. Kayla Medina won the election with 55% of the votes while Nguyen took 45%.

According to a 2023 article by The Runner, the newly elected board are collectively concerned with advocating for student voices. Ensuring the needs of all students and working to create better student leaders is a common goal for the 2023-2024 ASI board.

Daisy Alamillo, the 2023-2024 ASI president, already has plans centered upon these goals as well. According to Alamillo, she has been with ASI for three years but has devotedly advocated for students since she was in high school.

“Our goal really is to be that official voice for the students and uplift their concerns,” said Alamillo.

She is looking forward to reviving ASI in the upcoming school year. During the COVID-19 pandemic, students had little interaction with each other and student organizations. Having come out of that, Alamillo hopes to bring ASI back to life. “Our advocacy will be for how to have students on campus,” said Alamillo.

Alamillo has already taken notice of concerns she plans to advocate for on campus such as having more cultural centers on campus and better resources available to students. Another concern she has noticed is the lack of initiative from Facilities Management.

Recently, the fumigation of the squirrels on campus has gathered many student voices together in protest. “Students see the need for facilities to be transparent,” said Alamillo. She believes Facilities Management should be “ensuring students’ rights to be protected.”

Alamillo is determined to advocate for students and teach more to be better student leaders. “Without student opinions we’re only a board of 26 when we are really 9,000.”