Elections for the HCC Southwest College’s Student Government Association will be conducted online this from May 6 to 11.

Students who attend the West Loop campus should vote here, students who attend the Stafford campus should vote here, and students who attend the Missouri City campus should vote here.

Adrian Nwanze and Charles Tolden have both served on the executive board before and are running for the presidency.

The SGA is responsible for bringing the concerns of the student body to the college administration, organizing campus-wide activities and providing a forum for students to voice their concerns about the college.

Adrian Nwanze served as Vice President of the Southwest SGA in during the 2014-2015 academic year. He is a nursing major, a sophomore and works for HCC Recreational Sports.

Nwanze spoke about what he hopes to accomplish in ‘the driver’s seat’ as he calls it. “I can get things done the way they should be done. I think being productive is sort of my key. I believe in getting things done ahead of time.”

Nwanze continued, “We have a majority of our club members that they don’t even know that the SGA exists, and the students don’t even know what the SGAs do. When I come into office, I’ll make sure that the clubs are connected… I’ll make sure that everybody works together…”

Nwanze’s competitor Charles Tolden shared his personal story: “I was shot in 2011 which left me paralyzed… [That] changed the whole trajectory of my life, it was truly a paradigm shift. Ever since then, my life has been promoted towards purpose and self-improvement….I fought my way back to get acclimated back to society in a wheelchair.”

He graduated high school in 2006 and returned to school in 2013. “Ever since then, I just really been focused on purpose. That’s the reason why I go to school. That’s the reason why I volunteer. That’s the reason why I participate in student organizations. Ultimately, that’s the reason why I want to be the president, because I want to be the voice for the students and I have a heart for helping people. I feel like my purpose is to help people and overall, I am a leader.”

Tolden served as the Southwest SGA Historian during the 2013-2014 academic year and as Treasurer from 2014-2015. “I’ve been through a lot of experiences in the SGA and I’ve seen where things went wrong and I’ve seen where things went well,” adding that, “I look to leading the SGA and focusing on the students and what the students want.”