Student trustee appointed

Jeri Elder, a Newport Beach resident and Coastline Community College student, was appointed last week as the Coast Community College District’s new student trustee.

At Wednesday’s board meeting, Elder was officially sworn in as the successor of Carlos Munoz, who held the trustee post for the 2005-06 academic year. Over the last year, she had served as president of Coastline’s Student Advisory Council and before that had served as the council’s commissioner of public relations.

As student trustee, Elder said she planned to start a number of projects to unify the student bodies better at Coastline, Golden West College and Orange Coast College, the three campuses in the coast district. Among her proposed goals are starting a districtwide student newsletter featuring articles from each college, as well as a blood drive and dance.

“A lot of the students at our colleges don’t even know there is a district student council or how to become part of it,” said Elder, 29. “We want to get government out there and let students know that there is a voice.”

In addition to her other projects, Elder said she planned to visit campuses on a biweekly basis to talk to students about district issues.

Walt Howald, president of the board of trustees, said Elder’s hands-on approach would be a boon to the district.

“I think that coordination between students is an important thing,” he said. “I’ve encouraged that for years among our staff. It gives us an opportunity to really unify and do some things.”

Elder applied for the student trustee post earlier this year on a recommendation from a faculty advisor and went through an interview process. The previous year’s District Student Council, led by Munoz, chose her for the job shortly before disbanding.

A 1994 graduate of Garden Grove High School, Elder plans to transfer to UC Irvine or Cal State Long Beach after earning her associate in arts degree from Coastline. She will begin her third year on the campus this fall.dpt.27-elder,jeri-BPhotoInfoOI1SC9SK20060627j1hosinc(LA)Jeri Elder