Silver City, NM- Claudia Osuna sits in her student presidential office surrounded by papers, and busily looking at her computer screen at her latest barrage of e-mails. She wears a lovely, big wool sweater that envelopes her petite body, not only keeping her warm, but also looking quite stylish.
The current Student President of ASWNMU came to Western from Sinaloa, Mexico, and is the middle child of three kids. She is currently in her final semester at WNMU. After graduating with a degree in accounting, Claudia hopes to move to Miami and become a CPA, or Certified Public Accountant. Although Claudia put aside her time as a collegiate tennis player to focus on student government, she misses competing in the sport indefinitely, but is always around to support her fellow Mustangs.
Claudia started out in ASWNMU three years ago, serving as a Senator for two years, before deciding to make the leap to the position of President. At first, she only wanted to run for Vice-President because she didn’t think that she necessarily had the right qualifications for the role of President. However, she decided why not go for it, and take charge in trying for the position anyway. She knew that she loved meeting new people and being heavily involved, so she figured why not take this opportunity?
Even with the possible fear of failure on her very first day in office, Claudia pushed the doubt out of her mind and overcame that fear. She saw it as a new challenge, and felt as though her character and attitude would reflect her determination. Now she feels confident that there has been a visible improvement in our student government system, and it is something that she prides her work on.
Her advice for any woman wanting to take a huge undertaking into their own hands is that if she, as a non-native English speaker, could make it as the President of the Associated Students, then anyone could do what they want. In her position, Claudia regularly attends Board of Regent meetings and has even given a presentation in the New Mexico Governor’s office. Claudia say’s that it’s just all about trusting yourself, your abilities, and following your dreams.
She credits a few significant people in her life as role models, the first example being her parents back home. Claudia says that she has always seen them as perfect people, and every time she has to make a decision, she thinks about what it is they would do. Another one she mentioned is her boyfriend, Alvaro Nunez, a graduate of WNMU and also a former collegiate tennis player.
“Even though it’s cheesy to pick him, I looked up to him because he was here two years before I was, so I always went to him for advice on how to handle such a big change in my life,” she said.
The final person Claudia named was Dr. Joseph Shepard, a fellow president, only for the university as a whole. She said that she has always been impressed by him because he always knows what to say, and has an answer and solution for everything.
When thinking about the future, Claudia says that in ten years she sees herself having a beautiful family and living back in Mexico. Along those lines, her favorite thing about being a woman is, “Our ability to give life, and how we have shown the world that we deserve every position out there, plus we get to look beautiful while doing it all.”
