Meet your 2018-2019 SGA Executive Board!
President
Isaiah Smith
Biography: Isaiah grew up in Memphis, TN with four brothers. He came to Texas in August of 2009 and has lived in the Dallas area since. After graduation, he planned to begin his career as a public school teacher. This was an important goal for him because he will be able to serve as a source of inspiration for children who don't have the best influence in life. Aside from that, he hopes to start an organization on day that focuses on helping graduating high school seniors find what they feel their calling is. Since he has been at UNT Dallas, he has been a senator for SGA, and Co-founded for the P.O.N.G Society. He was also VP for the Jag's Acting Org, but has since stepped down from the position. He is a new member for the UNTD ABSE (Alliance for Black Student Educators), an organization that focuses on methods of effectively educating black and underrepresented students.
Vice President
Christopher Marshall
Biography: As a student leader at the University of North Texas at Dallas, Christopher A. Marshall is a trailblazer among the student body. He has proven himself to be a highly passionate, self-motivated and successful individual who uses his resources to empower his community. Mr. Marshall is a proud member of the Gamma Xi Gamma Chapter of Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity, Incorporated where he serves as the 1st Vice President & Director of Social Action as well as serve in multiple leadership positions within other student organizations at UNT Dallas.
Christopher’s work ethic, academic success, programming portfolio, and leadership capability exhibits why he is a part of the Student Government Association. He advocates and encourages the student body to discover their passions, pursue excellence and become politically and socially empowered and involved in changing the world as we know it. Mr. Marshall is driven by his pursuit of socioeconomic justice within our society and collaborates with numerous government official, nonprofit organizations and community leaders to bring about a catalyst of change. It is without a shadow of a doubt, Mr. Marshall is positioned to be a world changer for peace and prosperity for all people.
Programming Officer
Mia Ruiz
Biography: Both of my parents were born in Mexico and migrated to the states with their families at early ages. I am the oldest of 5 children. I was born and raised in Dallas, Texas. Growing up, aside from helping with my siblings, school was my only focus. Throughout my elementary and middle school years, I was placed in talented and gifted programs; this allowed me to truly flourish in my early education. My last two years of high school, I was homeschooled, which enabled me to graduate a year early and jump straight into college. Now, here I am, the Student Government Programming Officer, a first-generation college student in my second year at UNT Dallas. I am currently majoring in Human Services Management and Leadership. I've recently discovered that my passions lie in helping people in whatever way possible. I hope that through this degree, I will be able to give back to my community in ways I never thought possible. One of my goals is to one day join the peace corps so that I may expand my realm of humanitarian work opportunities. I hope that through Student Government, I will be able to grow into the best version of a leader that I can be.
Public Relations Officer
Yomira Lopez
Biography: I was born in Mexico, lived there for about 9 years. Some of those years were good while other years were verypainful. When I was coming to the US, I was not aware that I was coming to a permanent home. It was hard for me to assimilate to my peers and it was hard for me to make friends due to the language barrier. I didn't even know that the way I spoke would ever keep me back from doing certain things. Now that I can speak a different language, my status as a non-citizen has kept me from doing some things but I know it doesn't keep me from becoming part of the Board. My goal is to become a dietician, and get a masters in higher education. I currently am a teacher on the weekends at my church, so that is my leadership role at the moment. I am a member of the Public Health Student Association (PHSA), part of the Fitness Club, as well as part of Student Government Association (SGA) as a senator.
Treasurer/Finance
Naide Hernandez
Biography: What I have done in the past and what I continue to do to this day is try to be involved as much as possible. I believe in making an impact on the school, club, organization or work place that I am apart of. I have always tried to be the one to step in and give my opinion to get the ball rolling. What I hope to get from joining these organizations and giving it my all is good leadership skills, advancing my team working skills along with making long lasting impressions with the people I am working and socializing with. A few leadership roles I have held recently is being the treasurer for the Fitness club and being the Academic Chair for Sigma Lambda Gamma. The experiences I've had within the Fitness Club is creating fundraiser ideas along with coming up with ideas of how to collect, store and contribute the money to benefit the club. My role as the Academic Chair for SLG comes with having to keep track of every active members study hours for the week, along with meeting with members to make sure they are holding themselves accountable to improve and maintain their grades. Some may turn away from leadership roles because they might seem too difficult and complicated but I walk toward the roles because I feel that I won't abuse the position in any way but make every other member enjoy being a part of this org and any other org as well.
Secretary
Abigail Duarte
Biography: My goal is to become a politician and serve as a representative for the state of Texas. Currently I am studying Political Science at UNTD and in my first semester here I was elected as the Freshman Senator for the Student Government Association (SGA). As a Freshman senator I challenged myself in many ways such as, meeting new people every week to inform students about the events on campus and get them involved. I was also apart of the ECI Food Committee in which I addressed some concerns about the healthy food options held at the university. I also learned to be open minded in situations that I may not agree in. As part of the SGA I would like to help students get involved on campus to unify students together that can make the university a more comfortable and memorable place.
Parliamentarian
Monty Grant
Monty was born in Chicago ,IL and at the age of 3, moved to Starkville, MS where his mother attended Mississippi State University.
Being a history and government fanatic, Monty has always understood political operations; however his journey began when he heard about the need for a 7th grade representative for my middle school. After winning the office of representative plus Student Body President the following year, he knew there was no stopping. Monty served as his class president from his freshman through junior year of high school and served on committees from “Angel Tree” and “Breast Cancer Awareness Joint Fundraiser” to bringing community service opportunities such as “Relay for Life” to our community. Throughout his high school career, he also received accommodations from the Ronald Reagan Student Award to the US Congressional Award given by Arizona’s US Representative Ann Kirkpatrick. Furthermore, in his senior year of high school he served as The AASC (Arizona Association of Student Council) Northern President where he represented 32 schools on the state level.
After all of these wonderful chapters in my life, Monty came to the realization that he wanted to have a career and politics which is why he is studying political science and holds the office of Parliamentarian for our Student Government Association. As part of SGA, his goal is to help UNT Dallas and it’s students create a more educated tomorrow, execute its mission, and leave a legacy for future students to create a culture.
