Passion – the driving force behind any effective position or organization.

Passion is exactly what motivates the Associated Students of Linfield College. ASLC President Trey Chiu and Vice President Ivanna Tucker have a passion for making student voices heard.

“I feel that it is important for students to feel that they are a part of something,” Tucker said. “Students should have a say in what they want to see in their college experience.”

Tucker’s initial reason to run for ASLC Vice President was to give students an effective liaison to feel connected to the decisions that are made by student government.

“I’m essentially the voice of the students to the Board of Trustees,” Tucker said. “I give them a chance to have their opinions heard by the administration.”

Tucker wants to maintain a heightened awareness of what Linfield students want as she continues on with her vice presidency throughout this school year.

Chiu’s preliminary reasoning for wanting to be ASLC President was to not only step out of his comfort zone, but encourage other Linfield students to do the same.

“My time [at Linfield] has changed me as a person,” Chiu said, “and that is a direct result of doing things that I wouldn’t normally do.”

Chiu, like countless other students, came to Linfield his freshman year mainly for the athletic scene. Once he got more involved in everything that this school has to offer, however, his life completely transformed.

“I want to encourage others to sort of step out of their bubble,” Chiu said. “I want to help facilitate those ‘aha!’ moments for others through all of the assets we have at our disposal. There is a lot that can be done.”

One of Tucker and Chiu’s common reasons behind their passion for their positions is making sure that ASLC is effectively using students’ money towards a better college experience for everyone.

Tucker and Chiu are constantly planning events that they hope will be well received by the student body. They want to make Linfield students feel like part of a community, while at the same time improving the image of the college.

“One thing that’s happening this semester for sure is a community service event for the campus,” Tucker said.

This event will involve Linfield students making packages and sending materials to local Yamhill County nonprofits. Tucker and Chiu hope that through this type of service event Linfield will begin to feel more connected to the outside community.

“We want students to feel like they are part of something bigger than themselves,” Tucker said.

Chiu is also excited for what’s being planned by ASLC for Halloween. They are still in the preliminary planning stages and can’t disclose too much information on the subject, however.

Tucker is awaiting Homecoming with excited anticipation. ASLC has some great things planned for that week and they hope for an awesome student turn out.

“I love the Linfield Wildcat spirit, and we want to amplify that through Homecoming,” Tucker said.

There are many steps that ASLC has to go through in order to make any kind of event happen on campus. The planning process takes a large amount of external help.

“Humans are like ants in a lot of ways,” Chiu said. “You can’t get anything done alone.”

For any event, whether it’s through ASLC, the Linfield Activities Board, or any other organizational entity on campus, the planning process involves communication with faculty and staff.

“There’s always someone who knows more than you do about what you’re trying to plan,” Chiu said. “Seeking their advice is the best way to go.”

When Chiu or Tucker comes up with an idea for an event, a large portion of their planning is done with guidance from their advisor, Dan Fergueson.

Fergueson is always very supportive of Chiu and Tucker’s ideas, but makes sure to push them to figure out a lot of the preliminary planning steps on their own.

“We need to reserve the space, get approval from advisors, and do all of the publicity,” Tucker said.

Almost everything sponsored by ASLC is paid for by a budget funded by student activity fees. Things like The Linfield Review, the bike co-op, the game room, clubs and Wildstock all fall under that student activity budget.

“We are in the process of developing a graphic that shows where everyone’s money is going to show to students,” Chiu said. “That will be coming out in the near future and will be a clear, definite resource for students.”

Each year every position’s budget is reevaluated to make sure that Linfield students’ money is being used in the most effective way possible.

The Linfield Activities Board, for example, is allotted a large sum of money that allows them to pay for on-campus concerts, movies, entertainers and Wildstock, as well as off-campus activities like hikes, white water rafting, trips to Portland and more.

ASLC Cabinet projects have their own budget that goes toward things like maintaining the office and providing work-study and stipend positions for students.

Athletics also has a budget that allows Linfield students to get into home games and matches for free.

These are, of course, just a few examples of the way that the student activity fees are allocated in the best way possible. It is important to note that these budgets are not set in stone and change every year.

Aside from dealing with money and budget keeping, Chiu and Tucker spend much of their time dealing with other ASLC-related work.

“Officially, we have 10 hours per week,” Chiu said. “We have eight office hours, an hour-long senate meeting, and an hour-long cabinet meeting.”

But Chiu and Tucker’s ASLC responsibilities extend far further than those 10 hours per week.

“It’s a lot,” Tucker said, “But it’s all about how much heart you have in your position. We’re placed in these roles to be a voice for the students, it’s our job to fully take that on.”

Chiu and Tucker are constantly maintaining and scheduling future events, coming up with new ideas, and working along side other ASLC members.

“It’s neat how well everyone works together,” Chiu said. “It’s a great dynamic that really contributes to the efficacy of the team as a whole.”

Tucker agrees that the ASLC cabinet is a very cohesive group of individuals who work well with one another.

“We hired these people because we knew they were good at what they did,” Tucker said, “But also because we knew they would work well with others.”

Another group that Tucker works very closely with is the Student Senate, which has representatives from every grade level who meet once a week to discuss the needs and concerns of their particular class.

One way Chiu is working to make sure things run smoothly at Linfield is by looking at other colleges to see what they have done to successfully solve problems. This way, he can work to mirror those successful tactics to solve similar problems at Linfield.

“For me, the most challenging aspect of my position is working around the red tape,” Chiu said. “And by that I mean constraints, and learning the hard way what we are constrained by, and running into road blocks that hinder achievements we want to reach. It’s tough, but not anything insurmountable.”

Tucker finds it most challenging to instill the same passion she has for making Linfield a better place in others.

“I’m very passionate about my position and making sure my vision is carried on,” Tucker said. “It’s hard to get people on the same level of passion and commitment. You need to make people feel accountable for themselves, but also for me, the senate, and the student body.”

Tucker has found that an effective, yet sometimes hard way to make sure things run smoothly is not being afraid to have crucial conversations with students who maybe aren’t putting their best work forward.

“It’s hard working with your peers,” Tucker said. “But you have to have those conversations or else no one will grow. And we want everyone to grow. I do not want us to be stagnant.”

For the most part, Chiu and Tucker have an understanding and appreciation for the things that ASLC is constrained by. However, what does get to them is when students complain on the outside, but never actually make their opinions heard by student government.

“I can’t force students to make their opinions heard by me or Trey or the senate,” Tucker said. “But it’s important if you want to see a change, you need to make it known. If students continue to complain and not let their opinions be heard by the right people, there will be no change.”

Tucker and Chiu want to encourage students who have complaints or concerns about how things are going at Linfield to let one of their class senators know.

“No one ever has anything to talk about in senate meetings about complaints, but we know they’re out there,” Tucker said. “I want people to be comfortable making their opinions known.”

Student senators are meant to be a liaison to groups and individual students so that everyone can voice their opinion in an effective way that can create a positive change.

“Some things can’t be handles, but they should still be addressed,” Tucker said. “And there may be something that can be done, but we can’t even try unless we are made aware of the concerns.”

Without ASLC, there would be an enormous disconnect between the administrative body and students. Chiu works to make sure that disconnect does not happen.

“Without ASLC there would be a missing link to decisions made at the top level and the opinions of the students,” Chiu said.

Chiu finds it important to consider the constraints or reasons for decisions that students may not be fully aware of. He wants to make it clear to students that administration does not just do things for no reason.

“It seems confusing if you don’t know the background,” Chiu said. “By me meeting with the administrative body, if a student voices their opinion to me I can tell them why things are done a certain way. It’s a relay system of information.”

Chiu and Tucker are constantly out seeking the wants and needs of the student body, outside of the nine members of the ASLC cabinet.

“It’s hard to make decisions with just nine people,” Tucker said. “Having the outside voice of students coming in can get rid of any ASLC bias.”

Chiu is adamant about making sure students aren’t afraid to step outside of the box and do things they haven’t done before.

“You need to go out and have those experiences that will become more applicable to how you want to lead your life,” Chiu said. “If Linfield has taught me anything, it’s that you always want to be branching out and planting new seeds of interest.”

Chiu and Tucker’s main goal is to go out and figure out what the student body wants, rather than just guessing. Through talking with students in this way, they encourage campus-wide support for one another.

“If you show your support, they’ll show you support,” Tucker said. “That’s what Wildcats do.”