Kinesiology sophomore Allyssa Atkinson first came to Texas A&M University-San Antonio to accept the Hispanic Heritage award for a history project on Cesar Chavez and his advocacy for migrant workers in the 1960s.
At the time, she was a high school junior and unsure which university she would attend, but as she walked across the stage to accept the award from university President Cynthia Teniente-Matson, she received a sign.
“I want you to come here,” Matson said as she shook Atkinson’s hand.
Years later, she’s now the Deputy Speaker of the Senate for the Student Government Association at A&M-San Antonio and is running unopposed for student body president for the 2020-21 academic year.
“I knew I wanted to be the voice for those who can’t really find theirs,” Atkinson said. “To be honest, I’m still trying to find mine, and that’s how I want to grow.”
Born in Corpus Christi, Atkinson eventually moved to Waco and then later relocated to San Antonio where she started her freshman year at A&M-San Antonio.
Atkinson has been involved in a number of campus organizations and activities. She became the residence hall association president and later the SGA senator for the College of Arts and Sciences. She also is part of the Open Electronic Resource task force, which advises the school on the use of digital textbooks and online resources.
“I feel the university needs the accurate representation that I can hopefully provide them,” Atkinson said. “Being able to go to Patriots’ Casa, go to the dormitory, go to the SGA offices and go to the kinesiology students, I can kind of tap into everywhere.”
Diversity in campus involvement and creating relationships with students, faculty and staff are key motivations for her campaign, Atkinson said.
“I love building relationships with people,” Atkinson said. “Once you have that relationship no matter how big or how small, you already have that connection. You can talk to that person, network through them, help them and that’s my personality.”
If elected, Atkinson plans to increase on-campus healthcare options for students, fight food insecurity and expand the use of open source textbooks.
“I’d like to increase healthcare for residents and commuters. Ultimately every student should have something,” Atkinson said.
Through partnerships with off-campus organizations, Atkinson believes that the campus can provide more healthcare options for students who don’t have the resources to go to clinics or have regular check-ups.
Atkinson plans to address the issue of food insecurity on campus by collaborating with the food bank and the campus General’s Store. One idea that she had came from her experience at the Conference of Student Government Associations where SGA officials from across the country share ideas and initiatives.
“I believe the University of Illinois had a food truck,” Atkinson said. “What they would do is have a big food truck, like the food bank would, and then have the students come around and fill up their vehicles, whatever they need.”
While serving on the OER task force, Atkinson participated in the implementation of open stack textbooks, which professors can choose to supplement their curriculums at no cost to their students. Expansion of the OER task force could save students money by cutting down textbook expenses, Atkinson said
“So the difference between a textbook that was issued by the university, that’s in your tuition, it’s not really free,” Atkinson said. “This is completely free.”
Atkinson is aware that students are feeling anxious about the future due to the university’s precautions against the COVID-19 outbreak.
“So my slogan is ‘adelante al futuro’ which means ‘toward the future,’” Atkinson said. “Just move forward with me and we can get past this. Any little step is still a step.”
Candidates will be campaigning through March 29. Elections and voting will be through Jagsync March 30-31.
Students can follow Atkinson on instagram for updates on her campaign and platform on @adelanteallyssa.
