HCC Student Government Association tickets: Florecita Avalos and Patricia "Pats" Vazquez Vazquez

Juniors Florecita Avalos and Patricia “Pats” Vazquez Vazquez are running for student body president and vice-president respectively, on a platform and mission to promote unity, inclusivity and increase resource awareness for Holy Cross students. 

Presidential candidate Avalos is a psychology major and Spanish minor from Chicago. During her time at Holy Cross, she has been involved in Student Government Association (SGA) as a senator in addition to serving as a peer mentor and student ambassador for the Office of Administration, and Assistant in the Office of Special Events. Avalos is the co-founder of the First-Gen Club and the president of Latinos Unidos, a club which promotes and cultivates Hispanic community and culture at Holy Cross.

Vice president candidate Vazquez Vazquez is a theology major minoring in business from Guanajuato, Mexico and raised in Orange County, California. Vazquez Vazquez is the current SGA public relations chair and the former SGA social concerns chair, in addition to working as a peer mentor and student ambassador for the Office of Admissions. Vazquez Vazquez co-founded the First-Gen Club with Avalos, which connects and creates community for first generation students, and serves as the current president.

“We are fully committed to Holy Cross,” Vazquez Vazquez said. “We are very involved. We have that background of what it means to be a dedicated Holy Cross student.”

Both she and Avalos are first generation students themselves. The two launched First-Gen Club when they were sophomores when they recognized the need and desire from other first generation students at Holy Cross.

“Knowing two Latinas, one from California and one from Chicago, and being first gen, that’s my biggest motivation. We can be a voice for the students here who feel like they don't have a voice. We could be the two people that unite everyone together,” Avalos said as to why the two decided to run together. 

The Avalos-Vazquez Vazquez ticket plans to run on a platform that can described with the acronym LEADERS: Listeners, empathetic, assertive, dedicated, engaged, reliable, serviceable. Through these values, the team seeks to promote and increase unity and serve as personal resources to the Holy Cross community. 

“We want to burn down walls and build bridges,” Avalos said. “That’s our main goal, to see unity on campus.” 

The team’s first goal is to build and strengthen unity in the Holy Cross community, Vazquez Vazquez said, after noticing divides between on campus and off campus students, Gateway and Driscoll scholar students and traditional Holy Cross students, as well as between ethnicities.

Avalos and Vazquez Vazquez plan to strengthen these ties through bringing awareness to the issue, holding events to foster community, inviting guest speakers to promote inclusivity, fostering trust between students of color and the administration and responding timely to students’ needs, Avalos said. 

Avalos said the two both have significant experience in working with the College administration, admissions and SGA, as well as working with students, making their platform ideal for helping to promote campus unity. 

“We have grown these connections that will help break down these walls between ethnic minorities and knowing that we are there for them,” Avalos said. “And of course we are here for everyone on campus, but we want to focus on inclusivity and the inclusion of everyone on campus.” 

Vazquez Vazquez added something she takes great pride in, especially as a first generation student, is their commitment to personally know as many students as possible, something the pair has been striving to do since they were freshmen. 

“Our two main goals are building bridges and knocking down walls and then continuing to do what we have been doing: going out of our way to get to know people,” Vazquez Vazquez said. 

Additionally, the team wants to strive to provide resources for students, just as they have as leaders of the First Gen and Latinos Unidos clubs, Vazquez Vazquez said.

“It’s very necessary to know what are the resources the school offers," she said. 

In response to the pandemic, Vazquez Vazquez said the team’s first priority would be to clearly communicate with the administration to understand and promote health and safety guidelines. Avalos added they plan to host safe in person events and opportunities, noting that anxiety and depression are higher among college students during the pandemic. 

Vazquez Vazquez stressed their administration will strive to be present and approachable for students, actively reach out to students to address their needs, concretely address their campaign promises to remain active in campus life during their tenure. 

“We are here. We are here for you,” Avalos said to Holy Cross students. “You come first in our eyes.” 

The election is Tuesday, March 16. The voting window is from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. that day, and Holy Cross students can vote electronically through a Microsoft form or at the voting polls in the Atrium of the Vincent Hall.