Undergraduate Student Council Candidates 2017-2018

1.      ANNA ARZUMANYAN

I am applying for Student Council because I want the voices of the students to be heard. I have been an active member of the AUA community for two years, working closely with different teams of AUA to organize various events. However, this year; I wanted to do something different. As a citizen of AUA, who saw the room for improvement in different aspects, I wanted to make sure that I act. I became the organizer of the New Student Orientation (NSO), the Peer Mentoring (PM) Program and a committee member of the Strategic Planning Workshops. NSO and PM Program gave me an opportunity to work closely with our staff and communicate with all the freshmen on different platforms. I believe that the students’ input is very valuable for the development of the university. I want to represent student opinions, issues or recommendations to our faculty, staff and cooperate with them on developing rules and regulations during the Strategic Planning Workshops. When we, the students, face challenges oftentimes we want to get a quick response. Student Council is the body to create the bridge, make connections, raise awareness and simplify this process. The Council can also involve students in various activities, keep students active and motivated by organizing events that build a better sense of community amongst students. From my experience as a student council vice-president last year, I can say that there are definitely many proposals for amazing projects but not enough are brought to reality. Academic learning is important but so is a diverse, yet united community. I am running for this position to work with a team in order to implement your ideas, and continue to be a dedicated and enthusiastic member of our welcoming community.

2.      ANNA KAMALIAN

Vote for Anna Kamalian! As a student council member, i will bring my ideas along with your ideas to each Student Council Meeting in order to make the best out of this year. I am an organized, responsible, leader ready to serve our University. I plan or working with my peers to ensure that everybody’s suggestion will be heard.

If elected, i would love to be a PR manager of Undergraduate Student Council. My skills of a social media manager will bring a lot of benefit to the Council. I am excited to work on different project to make the best out of every day.

3.      ANNA TANTUSHYAN

I am Anna Tantushyan, a second year BAB student and an active member of the AUA community. I am honored to be the Executive Board Member of the AUA Volunteers’ League Student Organization, which has the highest membership in our campus and spreads the spirit of volunteerism inside and outside of AUA. Also, I am a work study at ICTS Department of AUA.  Thus, I am profoundly involved in the community and in campus committing a great deal of my time, energy and enthusiasm to AUA. One of my goals as a prospective Student Council member is to make students voices heard on the important issues they encounter and things they want to be changed; to listen to any of them anytime they have a question or a problem to be solved. As far as I am concerned, all students should have equal rights to speak up and make a change. My mission is to make it possible. Apart from that, my team is planning to organize more events in campus during this academic year including, but not limited to, Music fests, Intellectual and Sport games. Moreover, we plan to organize hiking/trips to different parts of Armenia. I believe that these things will help to make the studying environment more comfortable and entertaining for AUA students. Let’s make a change together!

4.      ARMAN MISAKYAN

Let’s make AUA great again. When I was applying for a Council in my first year, I didn’t imagine me taking responsibilities and making decisions for whole University. My experience throughout the year gave me opportunity to evaluate my real abilities. Last year projects which have been completed by me and my team made great progress for AUA Students. People started to understand the real power of Student Voice. Every opinion was considered; every comment was responded. I opened very first AUA Hiking Club, which has the largest amount of members. My team completed projects like Valentine’s Box, Recycling Bins, Hiking, Trips and Rock Concert and so on.

This year, the goal is set higher than usual. Our team has great dedication and enthusiasm to make AUA the place where people would feel heard and important.

We are planning to complete educational and fun projects like Quests, Intellectual games, Movie nights, Hiking, Concerts, Ted Talks and so on. We will be your eyes and ears in front of Administration.

For this purpose we need your votes and trust.

5.      ARMEN ALOYAN

The first reason I am applying for student council is that I am Armen Aloyan – active, sociable, creative, open-hearted and a person who is willing to do more for his university, his friends and his future colleagues. From this very first sentence you may think that I love myself quite openly and you  are not wrong, however I know that my heart is open for each person entering my life and I am ready to help everyone who is in need. Those of you who know me should know that my words are true. Till the last year I believed that the student council will help me enlarge my not only personal abilities but also my ability to contribute to my community. During the first two years at AUA I felt like the students and the council are not in a tight relationship which I thought should be. I was trying to implement my ideas to create projects, which would develop our AUA community and fill out student lives with positive memories. Some of the ideas have been implemented during the last year. I was elected by you will and results show that you were not wrong.

-Increase the number of fun and social events, because we need to increase the student participation in AUA community.

-Organize various events using the cooperation with other universities such as Slavonic, European Academy, YSU and University of Moscow.

-Continue being next to you like in past three years.

Give me a chance and I will give you opportunities.

6.      EDUARD HOVHANNISYAN

Fellow AUA students as you know we study in one of the most innovative institutions of Armenia. However even in our Uni there are still a lot of flows that need to be fixed, many problems occur that concern our student body.  And sometimes we face situations when there is a necessity to be represented to get heard. This job usually is done by our student council a team of active students who truly care about the student life and put time and effort to help. The decision to apply to our council was made by me only after I made sure that I am surrounded with a strong team of students who also want to bring changes to our university. In my opinion one factor that makes our team differentiate is the diverse background that all of us come from. If you vote for us, I can guarantee that you will get the most experienced and active council AUA has ever had. Yet, even if you are not supporting us you should still vote and prove that you are a truly responsible student. On the other hand if you choose us, be sure that we will do our best to prove that your choice was the best one.

7.      EDWARD POGHOSYAN

I do believe that student council is meant to enforce a constructive dialog between the students and faculty. As a 4^th year student I feel a profound eagerness and desire inside of me to be one of those connecting lines that will sustain the bridge between students and faculty and will hold it stable and functioning. We, students are many and sometimes it is difficult to be heard out of a crowd. Therefore, I want to be that voice of a student who sees a place of betterment or need of change but has no means to make his/her voice heard. As a person who has been part of various youth forums held in different European countries I have come to understand the value of youth engagement in initiatives inside and outside the university. I will make sure to get in touch with different youth organizations and create a fertile soil for our students’ participation. Besides hiking and community gatherings I am going to organize field trips to different production and business sites. I have been working for already 6 months and got to value the first-hand experience that a student can have while meeting a prospective employer. When I was participating in Harvard Summer Program this summer I saw how much emphasis was put by Harvard faculty on creating and maintaining a student networking. For this reason, I am going to organize group games, movie screenings, and many more staff which will enhance the feeling of a community. I have already organized three movie screenings and saw how effective it was for making friends and connections. And finally, as I am graduating this year I want to make sure that I will leave my university better than I found it.

8.      GOR VAROSYAN

As a newcomer, my ultimate goal is to show utmost involvement in our university’s community, engage more students into extracurricular activities and youth organizations. Our team has a clear vision to where our student council should be headed to. Considering the vision of our team, steps have been made to increase student representation. By this we want to give equal networking opportunities to every representative of the AUA community.

If given the honor to be a part of the Undergraduate Student Council, I will make sure to be a trusted servant leader and use my thinking capabilities for the betterment of the student community. With an unprecedented level of enthusiasm our team guarantees to proactively address any questions which may arise in the student community.

Strong passion for student government and eagerness to cooperate with other youth-run organizations serve as a motivation for my candidacy.

9.      HAYK KHEKOYAN

During the two years that I have been studying at AUA, I have been fortunate enough to be able to communicate with all the cohorts of students. This has provided me with knowledge of problems that the students might face and I am eager to propose solutions to those problems. I do believe in a productive cooperation with the faculty and staff in the future.

10.  KHACHATUR VRTANESYAN

I propose my candidacy because I hope to improve the quality of student life. I plan to organize various events in order to make the time spent in the university more beneficial, entertaining and enjoyable. Help to overcome any issues may come across during the academic year. To be a negotiator between the students and the board of AUA, deliver student’s authentic voice to them. Having appropriate organizational and communicational skills I think I am one of the best candidates for the student council.

11.  LIA YEGHOYANTS

Being a third year student and having a lot of friends I always face them asking about different topics that concern them, however as I feel there is nobody to answer. In my opinion being part of AUA student Council will give me the opportunity of becoming their representative and fight for their rights. It is important for me to have a team which will make every decision of ours more productive. Therefore, I ask for your support not merely for me, I ask you to vote for our team. I believe that with some passion and love we can transform our University into one of the best communities in which people will help each other even outside of the studies.

12.  LIANA HAKOBYAN

The prime reason that I am proposing my candidacy as an AUA student council representative is to make efficient changes in the university and make all students’ voice to be heard fairly. What I feel I will definitely bring to student council is creativity, honesty, determination, leadership, effective organization, and responsibility. Overall, I have been AUA ambassador in 2015, Peer Mentor in 2016 and the time is ripe to become Student Council member in 2017.

13.  MARGARITA DADYAN

I am proposing my candidacy because AUA community gave me a lot and I want to give it back as much as I can. I am willing to contribute to the development of our community with a big concentration on extracurricular activities of students, academic and entertaining activities and events. I am sure that ideas and values of our community should be spread throughout Armenia and that’s why I am also proposing to concentrate on external communication.

Throughout this semester I will mainly focus on

• Promoting activeness among student clubs

• Promote full use of AUA facility among students

• External communications (beneficial cooperation with other universities)

• Organizing entertainment events especially before exams (e.g. midterms, finals)

• Organizing cleaning activities of the backyard of AUA, to keep it clean. Also, we will serve as a good example to follow.

14.  MARK HOVSEPYAN

Being a third year (Junior) student, I’ve gained enough knowledge and experience to be able to state that my presence in this year’s undergraduate student council can actually make a change. As an experienced member of different youth organisations, I am able to understand the needs of the students within an institution, that is both academical and campus life concerns. Importantly, I have been encouraged and had enough support from my fellow AUA students while deciding to apply as an undergraduate student council member, which motivates me to attempt to become one and in case of success devote myself towards the goal of being a valuable representative of students’ needs and ideas.

15.  MARK HAMAZASPYAN

This election presents us all with a clear choice. It is a choice between continuing things the way they have always been done or electing readers who can bring fresh ideas and perspectives. I believe that my experience and personality will help me offer new ideas. Above all, I believe my most important job will be to listen to you and to communicate with you regularly. The future depends on our ability to work together. Cooperation and teamwork will get us far. I will lead with your best interest in mind.

In life, it is never the big battle, the big movement, the big speech, the big election. That does not change things. What changes things every day, getting up and redeeming small acts of service and love beyond that what’s expected of you or required of you!

16.  MAYKL HOVHANNESYAN

Hi, I’m Maykl Hovhannesyan and I’m running for the student council membership. My mission as a student council will be to provide an atmosphere of unity within the student body, causing a better university experience and a better reputation in the AUA community. I believe that the student council’s job is to listen and to be the advocate of the students. I and my team members are leaders, who are determined, strong and willing to make the university a better place. We know what every each of you are going through and we also understand how busy schedules can be and how challenging classes can get. That said, I promise that all our ideas will be brought to the student council meeting with that in mind. We will make a difference by listening to you. As a student council, I would love to raise the issue of the queues in the cafeteria, library printing and etc. Also, we could do more by advocating for new programs to help students academically, socially and emotionally. Together we can make a difference.  

17.  MERI NERSESYAN

Hi everyone, I’m Mary Nersesyan, a current Sophomore at AUA. From the freshman year I was engaged in University activities, and became a board member of AUA Debate Club. This year I’m running  for Student Council, as I want to make student’s life better. I am pretty sure that I am the right person to be in SC as I have all the qualities which are needed, (hope you share my opinion:) ) During my freshman year I managed to get familiar with some problems, which AUA community comes across, and I truly want to solve them. As said “Two heads are better than one” so I joined a team of really creative, ingenious and outstanding people. I want you to expect great changes from SC this year, and wait for interesting events and activities. I can ensure that we have the necessary vision and passion to stand up for the rights of the students. We aim to pull the students together and enjoy their time. With your votes and support we will do the best we can, to bring out the best for AUA students.

18.  NAREK BABAJANYAN

My ambitions for USC’s activity this year include raising the role of the Council for the AUA student community and Armenian civil society in general. With this goal in mind, me and my team are putting effort to organize events within the AUA community as well as establish channels of cooperation with organizations outside of our university (such as student councils of other universities in Armenia, various NGOs that are related to student/youth activities). I believe that AUA students can display exceptional capabilities and personal qualities when implementing joint projects with outside organizations, so in my perspective, it should be the task of the USC to provide opportunities to realize this potential.

An additional strategic focus of the USC is adequate representation of students’ interest in the governance of the University. Our team has already taken steps in this direction and has involved itself within the committees appointed by the Administration.

19.  NAZELI GHAZARYAN

Being a USC member is quite a honorable position. By suggesting my candidacy, I realize the responsibility I should take. I have been a SC member in my high school for three years so I am somewhat experienced in the field. I had a huge desire to offer my candidacy for last years election, but I wasn’t sure I was a corresponding candidate, as it was my first year and I was feeling quite new to AUA culture. However, today I find my experience, knowledge and personal abilities advanced enough to be a responsible member of USC. I am an active participant in some AUA clubs, especially Volunteer’s league. In freshman year I tried to contribute to the university life as much as I could. This year I managed to open a club “Politic” which promises great experience not only to the club members but also to anyone interested in its activities. What I think we should improve is considering students’ ideas. I’ll do my best to be a strong voice for those who might’ve not felt heard, and I really want to get informed about students needs and desires especially via making surveys and discuss those during decision making processes.

There are already some issues in university that many students complain of, such as the attendance policy, the potential of more active club activities, little interaction between students especially the introvert ones and even the dishes of cafeteria’s changed food menu. Even though we have great current USC members, there is always a space for improvements and new ideas.

20.  TIGRAN HOVHANNISYAN

One thing I noticed about this university when I came 3 years ago is that most of the students didn’t get to make any decisions here at AUA. Most of them are made without even telling us and even without discussing those with us.  Did anyone ever ask you what you wanted to buy with the money raised? Who makes these decisions? Those types of decisions are left up to student council. Do you want to choose someone who will make those decisions for you without knowing what you want? Besides all of that unfortunately there are some problems, which we must face to solve them together with our stuff and fellow students. If you vote for me as student council, I promise to always get your opinions before making any decisions. You should have a say in the actions that will affect you. Two major problems, which I would like to address and to solve, are mainly parking spot problems and also cafeterias lines.

21.  VAHRAM SARGSYAN

LET’S MAKE AUA PARETO EFFICIENT AGAIN!

I believe that together we can make AUA a better place to study. As a senior student I have lived many of the difficulties in the life at AUA. Now it’s time to face and fight these. Even though we study at a great university, we can perfect our lives here further. Together we will make our voices heard and our dreams come true. I will invest all my leadership skills to effectively run our small government and make its people happy. What is it that you think AUA lacks? Business field trips, parties, movie screenings, sports activities and tournaments? Do you want the tennis table back? All of these will be accomplished as soon as the power is in the right hands. So, prepare yourself for the funnies, most engaging and most informative year ever!

22.  VARDUHI MKRTCHYAN

23.  YURI SHAKHNAZARYAN

Fellow student,

It is truly fascinating and admirable to contemplate the extent to which the undergraduate ecosystem of American University of Armenia has blossomed throughout the last four years. To contribute to the further development of such a prosperity path, I would like to hereby apply as a candidate to the position of the member of an Undergraduate Student Council of AUA. With great responsibility in my mind, I am planning to direct my very efforts not only to pursuing long-term partnerships with the organizations that could aid you with a plethora of opportunities and advantages outside of the campus life, but also to addressing persistent challenges within the internal student kitchen. Together with my Team, I am dedicated to sustain the existing growth, to innovate and to come up with the utterly creative student-oriented programs, which would vastly enhance your university experience.

Fellow student,
Your vote does matter. Make it count.