Originally written for publishing on April 25, 2013.

After tough and long days spent campaigning to students around campus, John Ahn persevered past the rejections it took to get him to where he stands today with 317 votes to 248, defeating his competitor Nora Matti for the position as Associated Student President for the 2013-14 term.

Before Ahn ran as A.S. President or was a member of any clubs, he described himself as being a “hermit” focused on school academics and never bothering to be more social on campus. He believed the road to success was based on only having the best grades. Now, he deems himself an active and ready leader for the campus that recognizes academics and social involvement help pave the road to a better college experience.

As a business and economics major hoping to transfer to UC Berkeley next fall, Ahn knew that it would take a lot more than good grades to be a candidate not only for the college of his dreams, but as a candidate as president on campus.

“Clubs have a huge impact on our school system in which you can gain experience and influence” Ahn said, “and if you can’t find one you like, you can start one!”

Ahn attributes the various clubs on campus he’s a part of, such as Alpha Gamma Sigma, Pi Theta Kappa, and the Honors Society, as being a way students can get involved and be represented.

“I liked how he went around into other clubs campaigning. I feel like he really tries to reach out to us, the clubs, to rely on him for whatever we need,” said Mariaelena Medina, President of the Latina Leadership Network on campus.

For his initial motivation to step up to the position, Ahn recognizes his friends like Art Motta for helping him define what his visions were to run as president. His father was also someone who encouraged him to be more social because his major requires being a person that can network. “It really impacted my life, remembering all their support,” said Ahn.

“I am very excited John won, he’s a great guy that is very outgoing and involved around campus. To me, he is the best candidate to represent the students,” said student Jennifer Garcia.

Some of his goals for his term are to get students involved and represented in the school so they can voice their ideas and make a campus that can better serve everyone. Ahn also recognizes retention rates and achievement gaps as being some issues that have an impact in the school system and has made it his goal to work alongside the effort to make these percentages into a positive reflection of the student body.