Spirit of the Roadrunner Candidates

Abigail Navarro

"From Campus to Community: Our Shared Journey," focuses on creating an alumni portal where students can communicate with alumni in order to gain advice, mentorship, and connections. I want to start a UTSA Alumni Portal accessible for all UTSA students. Mentorship provides a space for students to ask questions and be guided through the unknown. It provides a legacy for alumni to continue as graduates. To instill this program, I would help the Alumni Foundation create an Alumni Portal on their website. This portal would be a networking site where alumni would upload a profile stating their major, current occupation, and their journey at UTSA. Students could search for alumni based on their major and occupation and contact them through the portal. The portal will serve as a place to network and connect with Alumni whom students want to follow in their footsteps. The UTSA Alumni Portal will be a place where the connection between students and alumni can grow tremendously, ensuring that the Spirit of UTSA thrives for generations to come.

Aydan Villarreal

“Grow the nest” focuses on connecting our Rowdy community, amplifying UT San Antonio's spirit, and embodying the Roadrunner Creed. Ultimately driving student investment in their institution for both education and experience. Here are the 3 pillars of this platform:

• Embody the Roadrunner Creed - As a visible ambassador, I will actively serve as a role model and uphold the Roadrunner Creed daily. This involves demonstrating Academic Excellence (pursuing my M.S.), utilizing my deep institutional knowledge for effective service, and championing Community Service outreach initiatives that strengthen UTSA's role in San Antonio.
• Connecting Our Community - UTSA is constantly expanding, and we must ensure every new and current student can find their niche and feel connected. My focus is on meeting students where they are and just talking with them
• Amplifying School Spirit - School spirit is the anchor that turns a university into a unified home. I want to focus on student investment in their own experience. That requires utilizing existing UTSA structures, which I understand.
  • Strengthen Core Traditions: Focus energy and enthusiasm on boosting key campus traditions like Roadrunner Days and Homecoming. These events are powerful tools for building lasting memories and collective pride.
  • Apply "Going Public": I will apply the political science concept of "going public"—building trust and engaging directly with people—to unify students and ensure spirit events are appreciated.

Diamond Gomez

'Strengthening Tradition Through Student Involvement,' focuses on making student involvement more transparent and easily accessible to students. As a first-generation student, involvement helped me find my place, step outside my comfort zone, and grow into a leader. I want to strengthen this tradition so more students can experience that same transformation. To enhance student involvement, I plan to create a centralized calendar of student organizations’ first meetings and major UTSA events. This calendar will be posted on RowdyLink and displayed around campus in dorms, academic buildings, and the Roadrunner Café to make opportunities highly visible. In addition, I plan to host multiple Get Involved Fairs throughout the semester so students have more opportunities to connect with organizations. I also hope to encourage professors to take five minutes once per semester to introduce RowdyLink in class, ensuring students are aware of how to access these resources.

D’Vonne Hmielewski

“United in Song, United as Roadrunners,” focuses on boosting school pride through the intentional learning, acknowledgment, and appreciation of our school’s songs, chants, and traditions. This will be done through displaying banners with the songs around campus, making it a big part of orientation, making it part of every on campus event, and making it a bigger part of the sporting events (more exposure, displayed on jumbotron).