Celestina Torres

Celestina Torres doesn't feel those leading student government are addressing issues that matter to her, so she decided to do something about it.

Torres, a political science and Spanish major who is a junior, decided to run for Senate because she was frustrated that the organizations she is in were not being represented.

"The senators were addressing issues, they just weren't addressing my issues," she said.

Torres said that the role of a senator is to serve as an ambassador to students.

"Senators act as students' voices," she said. "When students have problems or questions, senators are the ones they go to."

She said she is qualified to serve on the Senate because, as a student, she could relate to issues that affect students and problems they have.

"I want to be more accountable to the students," Torres said. "I want to be more accountable through direct line of communication by going to students' meetings and learning about them. I want to draw the direct line by actually speaking to them."

Torres said that everything the Senate faces next year will be challenge.

"It's something new every day, and learning to work together to address those changes will be the toughest thing we face," she said.

When asked to name three members of the Board of Regents, the president of the University and three student groups, Torres named Jack Fortner, Richard Toliver and Eric Anaya as regents; William Gordon as president; and Lambda Theta Phi, Chi Omega and Icewolves as student groups.