‘SELF-MADE’ CANDIDATE TO GIVE STUDENTS A STRONGER VOICE
By Mike Norys
Eye on ASI Presidential Candidates
The Poly Post, CA
California State Polytechnic Univ. Pamona
May 2 2006
Photo courtesy of Arno Keshishian
If you ask senior Arno Keshishian what he brings to office in the
upcoming Asssociated Students Incorporated elections, he responds
unflinchingly.
“We think experience and continuity is what we bring,” said Keshishian.
The 22-year-old self-made man has put himself through college
after working the past two years and now has his eyes set on the
ASI presidency.
“I feel like I can make a difference. I am experienced,” said
Keshishian. “I know how stuff works in here. Starting July 1, I don’t
need to associate myself and learn what ASI is. That’s what I did
this year.”
Keshishian has gained valuable experience this year as ASI Treasurer
and the year before as the attorney general of the Elections Committee.
He has also been the president of Cal Poly’s Mock Trial Association
for the past two years and an active member in the Armenian Student
Association since he has attended Cal Poly four years ago.
“I had the opportunity to do whatever I wanted to do,” said
Keshishian. “There was nothing holding me back. I’ve always had a
drive to do what I wanted.”
Keshishian’s stance is simple; students need a voice.
A prime example is with the parking structure where university
committees are making decisions without student voice. “We want to work
on communication between university and the school,” said Keshishian.
If elected, Keshishian wants to develop a relationship with the
chamber of commerce of Pomona.
Cal Poly is a corporation and Keshishian thinks there are networking
opportunities to be sought.
“We know exactly what we want to do and exactly how we want to do
it,” said Keshishian. “We want to make it as a productive year as
possible.” We locked down our goals and we realized how much work it
would take to accomplish these goals.”
All of the incumbents have pushed Keshishian in the direction he is
now going to continue the current cabinet’s legislation on textbook
prices and making free tutoring available to students.
“We’ve done a lot this year, in terms of goals we want to accomplish
that we set forth at the beginning of the year. We haven’t gotten to
those goals yet, but we’ve made leaps and bounds,” said Keshishian.
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