Jessica Urzua Cordon-Carrera Valle and Aksnoor Singh Kambo were elected to the IGNITE board of directors this week to represent Humber’s north campus.
“I’m in shock with how many votes I received. It makes me so happy to know that so many people believe in me and are giving me the opportunity to represent them,” said Jessica Urzua Cordon-Carrera Valle, elected with 629 votes.
Three days of voting this week saw 2,528 students fill out ballots, which amounts to a voter turnout of 8.86 per cent.
IGNITE’s manager of public relations says that number is actually up almost 1,500 votes compared to last year’s results.
“We do still acknowledge that due to the nature of this year, combined with much campaigning being done virtually, could have impacted voter turnout,” said Emmaline Scharbach.
Urzua Cordon-Carrera Valle says her goal is to have more students learn about what IGNITE does for them.
“When I was going around asking for nomination signatures, a lot of students did not know we had a student board, what IGNITE offers, and how they have helped students,” she told Humber News.
Joining her on the board will be Azi Afousi, Parul Yadav, and Neha Singh representing Lakeshore campus, and Brittany Bartolome and Lauren Abela representing Guelph-Humber.
Where’s the information?
Humber North campus student Jim Ramirez told Humber News he wonders where the money raised by his compulsory student union fees goes.
“I don’t know what IGNITE is really doing. I’m wondering where all the funds are going from international students, from them paying three times the amount of local students,” said Ramirez.
“Where’s the funding going? What’s going on here? Where’s the information?” he asked.
IGNITE's office at Humber College North campus. Photo credit: Julia Alevato
Paralegal Education student Camila Contes also said she doesn’t know what IGNITE does to help students.
“I didn’t vote because I don’t know the candidates or what they want to do as representatives,” she told Humber News.
IGNITE is the official student union representing more than 30,000 full-time students of Humber College and the University of Guelph-Humber.
In the past two years, the student union contributed $500,000 to support Humber College and the University of Guelph-Humber students through its COVID-19 Relief Fund, according to Humber’s website.
It also contributed $50,000 toward its annual student financial relief program and allocated $200,000 to international student bursaries.
If faculty go on strike Friday, Scharbach said IGNITE will be available for students, and all current on-campus and virtual services will remain open.
“We will continue advocating for students in partnership with the College Student Alliance. We will continue to have our regular meetings with the Faculty and Administration to ensure student concerns and comments are heard,” she said.