Recently, Colorado College held elections for student trustee, and Mayss Al Alami, a current junior, won in a run-off after the first election ended in a tie.
The election involved many hard-working candidates, but as far as determination goes, Al Alami takes the cake. During the entire election process she was studying abroad and therefore had to conduct her entire campaign from another country.
Al Alami said, “Campaigning from abroad was the most difficult part of the application process. I’m currently studying at the University of Oxford, and the time difference was significant. I had to often stay up until 2 to 3 a.m. to communicate with students on campus or take part in the Student Trustee debate.”
Due to this additional challenge, Al Alami relied heavily on social media, emails, friends, and fellow leaders at CC to help her with her campaign and get the attention of students on campus.
Al Alami’s friends at CC printed out and hung up posters and banners on campus, and encouraged people to vote.
“I truly believe that without the help of such wonderful, selfless individuals and their encouragement, it would have been quite difficult to win,” said Al Alami.
During her time at CC, Al Alami has been involved with the Student Government Association as both First Year Representative and Vice President for Student Concerns. Due to these positions, she frequently interacted with the Student Trustee and realized the importance and impact of the position. This inspired Al Alami to run for Student Trustee for her senior year at CC.
One of her goals is to increase the communication between the students and the Board of Trustees. Her campaign slogan was “Community. Collaboration. Communication,” which concisely describes Al Alami’s goals for her position.
Al Alami said, “I truly believe in the power of clear communication, bridging the gap to eliminate misunderstandings, and collaborating with one another to solve our problems and grow as a community.”
While fulfilling the other duties of a Student Trustee, Al Alami also plans to work on allowing students to be more involved and informed about matters pertaining to the Board of Trustees. She intends to have a strong online presence, in which she will provide students with updates from the board, and also be easily accessible for students who want to communicate with her.
Although Al Alami is heavily involved with many other activities and groups on campus, she fully plans on making her job as Student Trustee a priority.
“At the end of every academic year, around this time, I reorganize my involvements on campus and make sure that I have the big rocks set in place first, and then I fill in with smaller pebbles,” said Al Alami.
The Student Trustee position will be one of Al Alami’s “big rocks,” and she plans on fully devoting herself to doing the best job possible.