By Angela Le Quieu, Staff Reporter | Photo by Angela Le Quieu
The Executive Council of Students wants to introduce themselves to the student body at CNM, and inform students about their group, including what they will bring to the school at the upcoming ECOS night, said Carrie Ratkevich, Criminal Justice major and President of ECOS.
ECOS plans to host a meet and greet type function on Friday, April 11 at 5p.m. in the Richard Barr room at the Student Resources Center, she said.
“We are going to have free food, pizza, who doesn’t love free food right,” Ratkevich said.
The purpose of ECOS night is to give students a forum to speak with the student council about any concerns they might have at school, to develop relationships with the administration, and to give students, who may be interested in student government, a chance to find out more about the organization, Ratkevich said.
Phillip Cox, Criminology major and Administrative Officer said that the evening will help to give a face to the student representatives, and to give people more exposer to what the CNM student government does.
“I think ECOS is under appreciated, I don’t think a lot of students know exactly what ECOS has to offer,” Cox said.
Ratkevich said that many students do not realize that CNM has a student government, and the event on April 11 is one of the things that ECOS is doing to change all that.
The student government has worked in many ways to better CNM and the surrounding community, Ratkevich said.
Projects that ECOS has worked on include safety walks around campus to identify things like trip hazards and areas with lighting issues, and also helped to change where motorcycle parking was in the PPD lot after many fender benders occurred last year, because of poles installed around the previous parking area, she said.
Ratkevich said that they organized the CNMunity Day in the 2013 spring semester, in which several clubs volunteered at local non-profits around Albuquerque.
“I know some people went out to the farm and had to clean up whatever, they had to plant plants, water plants, or they helped organize the Re-store. So just different things that make people feel good about us and make us feel good about our community,” Ratkevich said.
The work that ECOS does for the community is the main reason why Ana Martinez, Psychology major and Budget Officer, joined the group, she said.
Martinez said that ECOS has been an opportunity for her to give back to her community here in Albuquerque, just how she had also given back to her community in Mexico.
“I like this, because it’s my way to help the students,” Martinez said.
Cox said that he joined to help reach out to students because an active student government can help change things for the benefit of the students.
“So our primary thing right now is to improve membership; because once we have more members we’ll have the strength to go out and really do some really wonderful things for this community, make some very positive changes,” Ratkevich said.
Currently the membership in ECOS is low and the group hopes to get more members by informing students about their organization, and by adding incentives beyond the $100 scholarship for active members, Cox said.
There are requirements for joining ECOS such as an application, being voted into the group, as well as a 2.5 GPA requirement, and there is also a limit of 15 members, Ratkevich said.
“But it’s the satisfaction you get from just helping your fellow students, that you can’t really replicate with any other organization on campus,” Cox said.
Students interested in ECOS can attend the event on April 11 or students can go to one of the groups meetings, which are regularly held on Fridays at 4 p.m. in the portables at room ST-12A, and Ratkevich said the meetings are open to all students who wish to speak or inquire about the student council.
