It’s seemed like over the last two years, no matter where you looked, there they were. Talia Stockwell, outgoing president of the Associated Students of Central Oregon Community College, served on ASCOCC for two years, doing everything from event planning and tabling to general upkeep. Stockwell is a veritable campus celebrity, which came with its own challenges. When The Broadside asked what they wanted their legacy to be Stockwell gave one word in response: fun.

“My-(joke)-not-joke this entire year is that I ran on the promise of fun. I campaigned on the idea of fun. And I do think that I followed through on it pretty well,” they said.

They elaborated further, how leading with fun threaded every facet of their leadership. They believed leadership is making space for others, not taking themselves too seriously as a student body–a noticeable lack of parliamentary procedures in meetings–and always making decisions with one specific thing in mind, the student population.

This could be glimpsed in the transformed ASCOCC office, in which Stockwell purportedly strong-armed their way to getting a couch for the lobby, alongside chairs, in order to make the space feel more welcoming. The approachability mandate was embraced with open arms by the council, Stockwell said, emphasizing a “friendly space with friendly faces.”

Motivated by the question of what students wanted most led to another student club mixer that occurred last fall. Lauded by staff and students alike, Stockwell called it their most proud achievement. It was riddled with challenges, being the first event solely planned by the “fun committee,” which comprised most of the student government: Stockwell, Hannah Evenson, Neil Weiss and Savannah Boyer, but a labor of love, nonetheless.

Being a part of ASCOCC has been a transformative system for both Stockwell and the system, they said. When they first started at COCC they were not at all outgoing or involved, but once Stockwell joined they knew they wanted to be president. So one year in, they campaigned and won. And they were immediately faced with doubts.

“(In) the first couple weeks, there were several points in time when it was like, ‘Oh, shoot, what did I get myself into?’”

But they persevered through hard learned lessons and in return overhauled the entire system in order to be more efficient and retain high student engagement. One aspect of this they were most proud of was the dismantling of the “very onerous” professional development fund forms, riddled with redundancies and critically, a lack of accountability.

The form was for giving students a stipend of $200 for conferences and travel fare, but it lacked the ability to track where the money was being allocated. No longer, now operating on a reimbursement basis. But ratcheting up accountability also applied to ASCOCC, providing clubs more support and being more intentional about public outreach.

Stockwell isn’t the only cabinet member leaving; six of the current seven members are transferring out at the end of spring term, but they believe that they’ve left ASCOCC better than they found it. They said it’s bittersweet because of how meaningful they found the work, and how no matter where they go, that experience will never compare.

As for the next president, Stockwell doesn’t expect them to maintain the agenda of fun but hopes they maintain ASCOCC’s intended role, being a welcoming space.

“The very most important thing you can do for (supporting students) is building genuine connections, hearing people out and making a genuine effort to go out of your way to reach students and be friendly. Which doesn’t sound like a lot to ask for, but that kind of mentality really goes a long way,” Stockwell said.

They added that being well-known throughout the college means interacting with a variety of students and staff that they wouldn’t have talked to otherwise, which they deemed a delight, but jokingly lamented about having to budget out “like 10 minutes” every time they travel on campus because being stopped by someone is inevitable.