Nikita Yadav wins DCI position as board looks to make some changes.

Nikita Yadav, having secured 71.4 per cent of the total votes, will join the newly elected board of student leaders as the director of communications and internal (DCI).

Yadav is in the sports and events marketing program. She is also a social media ambassador for George Brown College (GBC) and keeps active as a yoga instructor.

The DCI is the official spokesperson of the Student Association (SA) to the public, GBC, campus groups at college functions. DCI also has additional responsibilities as signing officer for cheques and contracts for the SA and to coordinate the work of the board of directors and the Annual General Meeting (AGM).

Yadav said that she felt a calling towards this position and believes that the skills developed through personal experiences and professional roles make her a fit for the role.

“I feel so strongly about my leadership qualities. I am good at communication; I also have the intellectual capacity and lean a lot towards my emotional intelligence. I am very high on empathy.”

Yadav highlighted the way SA had helped manage her life as an international student, “I saw how student association made my life better simply by providing me food through SNAP or helping me do my do my taxes for free.”

“I feel that this organization that is so hurt has gone through so much controversy and internal disruption, deserves to have a strong leader, and that is for the students,” she added.

Yadav expressed her gratitude to all the voters that believed in her and described her win as a victory not only for herself but for the SA and the college.

She shares her hope to work with the new board members to address the controversies and shortfalls surrounding the SA.

One of the pledges Yadav ran on was to increase the hours at the athletic center, possibly having it open at the weekends as the college rents them out at weekends. Yadav shares that she is yet to fully understand the capabilities of the SA but sees this to be very achievable, “I don’t think that this is a miss at all.”

Two other directors have the same pledges, which means they share the goal of increasing gym access for the students, making it easier for the board to come to a decision when they are able to devise a plan.

Another promise was the newcomer packages for international students.

Yadav feels that international students have very limited information when they first arrive and wants to improve their access to important information like tenant rights, rules and regulations, assistance programs among many others.

Yadav also spoke on her promise to reserve on campus jobs for marginalized communities and international students. She shares that such students are at a disadvantage, being in a new environment and English being their second or third language and hopes to give them equal opportunity with this promise.

“Reservation on jobs for these marginalized communities, they feel a sense of safety, a sense of welcome.”

She shares that despite being an extroverted and outgoing person, it still took her some time to secure a job and will be putting up this suggestion to the board.

“I just want them to feel like they are not less and don’t have to be under confident.”

Yadav also wants to reassure students that she is here to bring real change.

“If you have been disappointed by the things that have happened in the SA in the past, you don’t have anything to worry because your voice is here… Now that this new board has been elected, it is not just a new board. It is not just the start of something new, but I feel it’s the start of I feel it in every bone that it is the start of something of an entire era, of a whole legacy.”