Pamela Oda is a fifth-year senior who is also the president of CSGA. Oda shared the ups and downs of being president and the challenges of spearheading an association that is the voice of Chaminade’s student body.
“The past two years of being president has been an opportunity for growth and has provided me with more perspective on life moving forward,” Oda said. “Although these past few years have not been easy, it has helped me grow immensely as a student leader and as an individual.”
Oda, originally from Hilo, is a graduate of Waiakea High School. After arriving at Chaminade, she was approached by 2020-2021 Director of Programming, Sierra Murobayashi about running to be the next Director of Programming in student government for the 2021-2022 academic year. After spending some time in CSGA, Oda began her term as president in May 2022. She is the first person to be president for two consecutive years.
With her presidency, Oda knew she wanted to do something different than her previous predecessors.
“I think the one thing I did differently than people in the past is instead of fixing the old CSGA constitution, we completely revamped it,” the Criminal Justice & Data Science major said. “We started straight from scratch to make it more cohesive.”
Another aspect of CSGA that she wanted to change is the type of environment that the association is run in. In the past, Oda felt that the association/organization needed structure. In her time as president, Oda worked to strengthen the relationships between everyone in the student government.
“I wanted to create more of a family environment, not just straight business,” Oda said. “I tried to create a more talkative/collaborative environment rather than just business.”
Many members of the board took notice, especially Victoria Zembik, the financial vice president. Zembik describes how Oda made her feel welcomed to the board after recently joining. Zembik also noted that Oda is there for her and pushes her to do her best.
“Pam does the absolute best at being both a friend and a leader,” the financial vice president said. “When I need to confine in Pam about anything related to CSGA she is very experienced in this organization. She has all the answers, she truly does, or if we both do not know she helps me find the answer. She is the guiding light when it comes to anything school and personal-related. She is both strong and compassionate. Everything you could look for in a friend and leader. I appreciate everything she does for me and more.”
As president of CSGA, Oda is responsible for a number of tasks to ensure that everything runs smoothly. She attends meetings with students, faculty, and staff to go over any issues or ideas to help improve life for the student body. Oda also makes it a point of spearheading any projects to make the organization function better.
In her time as president, Oda has encountered some obstacles, specifically the lack of participation from the student body.
“When people come to college, they don’t really have the drive of being involved in student government like they used to,” Oda said.
She noted that one reason why the student body is not that involved is because everybody has different schedules. In high school, everyone operated on the same schedule and it was easier to find time for student government. In college, people have different schedules and some commute from far places. So Oda understands that finding time in college is difficult.
Besides conflicting schedules, Oda thinks that making CSGA more interesting for students will help get the participation numbers up. She hopes to do this by having more CSGA events and making the voting process more accessible/easier. Oda explained that it might be too late for the seniors to get involved, but the freshman still have the opportunity to.
“It’s important to get the freshman to understand that these people are going to represent you for the next year or so, so you want to make sure you choose the right people to represent you as an individual.” said Oda, a fifth-year double major, also minoring in Computer Information Systems and Psychology.
Another ongoing challenge for Oda and CSGA is finding a voice on campus. Oda explained that it has been something CSGA has struggled with these past few years, but have made attempts to improve this. She noted that CSGA has invited various departments to provide reports and updates during its senate meetings.
When asked about how she wanted to finish her term as president, Oda described how she wants to finish the new year out strong. She wants to do this by completing personal goals, accomplishing goals for CSGA, and helping each of her board members grow and learn in their respective positions. Also, Oda wanted to make sure the next group of officers and potential senators are prepared for next year, and have them ready for that transition into office.
“I would not change my experience in student government for the world because I would not be the person I am today without the sword-tastic students, faculty, and staff that I have met and worked alongside this journey in student government,” Oda said.
Oda’s second term as president will end with the CSGA elections for new officers on April 10-11. The new president will be announced on April 16 and will take the oath at the ending of the academic year.