Rio Hondo’s first-ever town hall meeting took place in Student Lounge 201 on March 8, where students could give input on how the school uses its funds on certain projects or makes changes in student payments.

Many students who attend Rio Hondo all have ideas and input that they feel could improve the school, however, some feel their voices are never heard.

Rio Hondo’s student leaders decided to host this event so students and faculty could voice their opinions and concerns about the school to our student leaders. From there on, the students’ opinions could be pasted down to Rio Hondo’s superintendents.

Keynote speaker, Professor Grant Tovmasian, gave attendees a talk about Rio Hondo’s place within the school system and the importance of each and every student.

Tovmasian talked about the strength of a school’s community and how proud students should be, but scolded the school for not having a school motto as other schools do.

Tovmasian left the students with a challenge of sorts, to come up with a new school motto capable of standing up to the likes of other prime schools in the nation. Three main topics that the committee wanted to share with the group were addressed: Rio Hondo Tap Cards, the new Hydration Station and the American Student Association of Community Colleges (ASAAC).

The committee is trying to offer part-time Rio Hondo students a chance to get their hands on a Tap Card. The Tap Card, which as of now, is only available to full time students, allows students to use transit transportation as a means of getting to and from school.

The new proposal will have students pay a new premium in order to secure their Tap Cards and the new source of revenue will allow the Tap Program to include part-time students.

For students who need to stay hydrated throughout long days on campus, students normally opt to buy bottled water rather then drink from old and sometimes out-of-order fountains. Rio Hondo now has plans to put in a new Hydration Station on campus and is expecting on having it ready in time to celebrate Earth Day.

This new fountain is similar to those found at many gyms. The system dispenses cold water and has a nozzle for filling water bottles. The execution of the proposal is meant to reduce the amount of plastic bottles used in the school and thus, lower the amount of waste to help preserve the environment.

The last part of the town meeting was spent reviewing the plans for the ASAAC trip and the overall purpose of the event. After that, the floor was open to students and faculty to ask questions, comments or concerns about Rio Hondo.

The question and answer session was a perfect way for students and faculty to voice anything that was on their minds about the school. Many topics were discussed and argued such as weather affecting walking paths, late night dinning, and of course, parking.

Even with a room full of students and faculty, it was made very clear by the student leaders that there simply wasn’t enough students attending any of Rio Hondo’s events.

The main reason of hosting a town hall meeting was to get a majority of the student body involved in how the school is being shaped for the future.

According to the student leaders, the plan is to have a monthly town hall meeting outside. The leaders also want to go classroom to classroom in order to encourage students to take part in events like this because they ultimately affect everyone.

The committee spoke about bills that were passed, raising students’ costs for parking, graduation taking place in the parking lot and much more, due to low turnouts that didn’t spark debate between the higher-ups and students.

Attending events such as these allow for students to be vocal about what they want for the very school they’re attending.

Students are encouraged to participate in the next town hall meeting and help keep the school student oriented.