The Daily Forty-Niner will be featuring profiles of ASI presidential candidates Christopher Chavez (Monday), Avis Atkins (Tuesday), Ricardo Linarez (Wednesday) and Raul Preciado (Thursday). The Daily Forty-Niner will also publish an ASI election guide on Monday, April 13.
Raul Preciado
From his junior year of high school to his junior year of college, ASI presidential candidate Raul Preciado has wanted to use his leadership and human relations experience to make a difference on campus.
Preciado, a political science major, said he has been curious about politics and government since he was young.
Before attending Cal State Long Beach, Preciado attended Thomas Jefferson High School in South Central Los Angeles. Preciado said he noticed many of his high school peers use education as a getaway from the rough neighborhoods of South Central.
“When I noticed how Jefferson High was an escape, I found myself wanting to create a safe zone for students so that they too could feel comfortable,” Preciado said. “I know for me I felt very safe and comfortable at school.”
Once realizing he wanted to make a difference, Preciado got involved with the student government body and in his junior year in 2005 he was elected as student president of Jefferson High.
Maintaining a 3.6 GPA throughout his four years at Jefferson High, Preciado was also an Advanced Placement student, entering college 15 units ahead.
Preciado stayed involved with student government when he arrived at CSULB.
He was senator at large his freshman year at CSULB and the senator of the College of Liberal Arts his sophomore year. He also ran for ASI president last year, but was not elected.
Preciado is involved with an off-campus organization, the Coalition of Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles, in which he works to pass immigration reform.
Preciado believes that ASI plays an important role on campus.
“I feel that student body organizations, such as ASI, are vital to any campus because they primarily deal with the students’ interests,” Preciado said. “When a club needs funding or whatnot, the student government bodies are the backbone. I believe the student body organizations are important because they have a lot of say in specifically student clubs and organizations.”
Preciado finds budget cuts to be another campus issue.
“In working to combat the budget cuts on campus, I feel we need to eliminate wasteful spending,” Preciado said. “The Student for Students Party, which I am a part of, wants to make it an issue to save students money. I, along with Student for Students Party, want to create a textbook exchange and textbook loan program, which will allow students to sell textbooks to other students.”
Preciado feels that the most crucial aspect for student voters in this next week’s election is to focus on new ideas that will create change. He also wants voters to be aware of the candidates’ credentials.
He added that many people, including students, vote for a candidate without knowing background information on the candidate or really understanding the viewpoints the candidates share.
Major/Minor: Junior Political Science major
Current/Previous ASI positions: Senator at large, senator of the College of Liberal Arts
High School Government Positions: President of student government at Jefferson High School
GPA: 2.7
On-/Off-Campus Organizations: L.A. County Human Relations Commission, L.A. Human Relations Commission, Coalition of Humane Immigrants Rights of Los Angeles
ASI elections will take place from April 13 to April 15.
Other ASI presidential candidate profiles: