September 17, 2025 • 13 mins
In this special episode, we're putting your new SGA leadership team for 2025-2026 academic year under the microscope. Join host Ryan Record and Public Relations Manager Kia McLeod as they sit down with the students who are working diligently to represent your voice and enhance campus life.
You'll hear directly from:
- Christione Johnson, SGA President
- Maryam Abdurrahman, SGA Vice President
- Ayanna King-Smith, SGA Club Liaison
- Nadia Bayiga, SGA Secretary
They'll share their visions and goals for the upcoming year. Whether you are a new or returning student, this is your chance to meet the leaders dedicated to advocating for your needs and fostering a vibrant campus community. Tune in to learn more about how you can get involved and make your voice heard at HCC.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:04):
[Music] Hello listeners and welcome to Dragon Talk, your award-winning student life podcast.
I'm your host, Ryan Record, and today I have the honor and privilege of shining a spotlight on the
students who will be representing your voice and working to enhance student life here at Howard
Community College for the upcoming academic year. We're incredibly excited to introduce you to the
(00:29):
newly elected Student Government Association leadership team for 2025 through 2026. And
they are excited to get to work. These are the individuals who are dedicated to serving our
student body, advocating for your needs and fostering a vibrant campus community. We're
going to hear directly from them about their roles, visions, and what they hope to achieve.
(00:52):
So without further ado, let's hear from your new SGA leadership firsthand.
Okay, if we can have our president introduce herself. Hi, I'm Christione Johnson. I'm the
SGA president for the 2025 to 2026 school year. What are you studying here at HCC?
(01:14):
I'm studying business administration and accounting. I'm a double major. Truthfully,
this is a transition for me. I used to be a dance major at university, so I just know
that I enjoy working with people. I did a lot of administrative work before I came here, and so
I'm looking to maybe get into human resources or get my certified public accounting license. Okay,
Miss Vice President, please introduce yourself and uh what are you studying here at HCC? Hi,
(01:40):
my name is Maryam Abdurrahman. I am a liberal arts and languages major and I hope to go into diplomacy.
I've always enjoying working with people. I just truly think that every single person is
just so interesting and has like a very unique story to share. So, I find working with people
very fulfilling for me personally. And I've also always been the more mediator type. So,
(02:05):
I feel like with those two things in mind, like a career in diplomacy would work the best. My name
is Ayanna King-Smith. I am the club liaison for SGA for the school year of 25-26. I
am currently a double major for life sciences and nursing. I hope to go to medical school to become
a forensic pathologist and study neurodegenerative diseases as they pertain to people of color with
(02:28):
substance abuse issues. So what inspires me as a woman of color, my like problems with my own body,
especially regarding health, have not always been heard out because there's not people that look
like us in the medical field. There's more now, but like there needs to be more. So like when
it comes to like people with neurodegenerative diseases, there's a disparity between people of
(02:50):
color that have these problems that usually don't get diagnosed until like the late stages when
they're already to a point where like treatment is not any option. So I want to do research to
help them to kind of like whether that be a cure or like at least have preventative measures so
they have more time with their families. My name is Nadia Bayiga. I'm the secretary treasurer for
the SGA 25-26 academic year. I'm a cyber security major and I chose to go into this field because
(03:16):
I always imagine myself working in an office, working on my computer, doing this, doing that
and I chose this major because it's more of a male-dominated field and I want to change
that. I'm trying to be a cyber security analyst, do great things. I want to create organizations,
nonprofit organizations that teach the youth about tech and yeah, give them great skills,
(03:39):
trying to do great things for the world. SGA president, what are some of your goals in the
SGA leadership position? One of my goals like internally is just to make sure that this energy
continues. I know there's so much of like this is the honeymoon period and you'll have your issues,
especially sharing an office space and just spending so much time with each other. But I
(03:59):
don't think that this energy and this motivation and this drive has to die down. So just trying to
keep this group as excited and motivated and close as we are right now. And we have plans of things
to do and hang you know it's not always work. So 5:00 hits we're off the clock is all I'm going to
say about that. But so that's an internal goal the homework session literally. But externally I think
(04:23):
I want to focus on academic achievement within the student body. I want to make sure that when
that final week comes, there's a lot of stress reduction things. There's a lot of study time
for people. There's an opportunity for them to speak with someone about time management so we
don't end up in a situation where they're cramming every semester on that last week,
but also a space where everybody just feels like they can work and get together because I
(04:43):
love doing that with these people so much. I feel like that's a good resource for people to have. I
also hope to do in the spring semester some life skills competency things because this is kind of
a gateway. It's going from high school to the real world or university or wherever you plan on going
after here. And you have to be getting ready for that cuz school is no longer teaching you. There's
(05:03):
not that fam-com class in your community college or your university, but you need to learn how to
do your laundry and you need to learn how to cook good meals for yourself and you need to learn how
to do your taxes. So, I'm hoping to bring some people in who can do some of those skills and find
out mostly what the students need this semester so that we can bring that to them next semester.
Um, and then other stuff that I want to do is just be open and available. I think I bring my
(05:27):
laptop to school a lot because I don't want to just work in the office. We want to be seen in
other buildings. Ian really brought this to our attention primarily because she spends so much
time in the set building and the KH building where the nursing students, the science students are,
different people like that. They don't get reached by student life as much as they should because we
stay over here in academic commons a lot. It is what's available to us. It's the easiest to
(05:49):
reserve these rooms and book these rooms. But that doesn't mean that we shouldn't be in the other
buildings. So just making sure we make our way all around campus and that everyone is feeling seen
because if the whole student body isn't feeling represented, what are we doing here? Right? That's
our whole job. That's what we're supposed to do. So those are some of the things that I just want
to focus on and I feel like this is the perfect team to make those things happen. So, how will you
(06:12):
know or measure if you're connecting with students or um if you're meeting the needs and individual
goals of students? Like, how are you are you going to do like surveys? Are you just going to
have those one-on-one conversations? Like, how will you know you're doing a good job? I mean,
(06:32):
we're always open to one-on-one conversations. Our door stays open. We have already had people
come in and ask us about how to apply to become a senator. We've had applications already. Club
applications are flowing fast and quickly and all the time and people are always asking about
how that process is going with our club liaison who is wonderful about it. So we have an open
door policy. If we're in the office, you're free to come into student life and talk to us at any
(06:55):
time. Um so I have that time to talk with students if they have anything to ask me. If they just want
to talk to me, I'm definitely open to that at all times. I had a student ask me where her class was
on the first day and shoot I didn't know but I was like I'm glad you felt comfortable to ask
me as SGA president some directions around campus but also surveys at all times for homecoming. We
don't want to just pick a location. We don't just want to pick a theme. We're going to ask people
(07:18):
about that during the Dragon Connection Fair cuz it's right in your face. We're going to put a QR
code out. We're going to survey that information from the survey. We're then going to break it down
to different options and survey again. like we really just want to keep checking in with
students and keep making sure that those needs are being met. And with our town halls, our student
body meetings, we hold these things every month. We have meetings with the president every month.
(07:39):
We're being that connector. And it's not entirely our job to make that happen. Students have to
want to connect with us, but we're extremely available. Like we're we're very easy to get to.
So, is there anything else you'd like to tell the student body about the SGAA? Join a club.
Yeah. Collaborate. Be friends with everyone. Like, there's really cool people here to meet. There's
(08:04):
also a lot of cool things to see on campus and off campus when we do our little excursions, but
like get connected with people. So, I genuinely think that my overall like college experience has
been a lot better at the fact that I did connect with people more than I did in high school. What
excites you all most about representing such a vast student body and how do you plan to empower
(08:26):
those to strive to be their best here at HCC? I'm excited to make the STEM and nursing voices heard.
Um, especially coming from a STEM student that kind of felt forgotten by like student life, it's
really great talking to students and getting ideas for them on like what they would like to see like
make being able to make the suggestion to Chris that like we do town halls in like all of the
(08:47):
different buildings rather than just this building so that every last like group feels like they're
being seen and heard. Personally, I'm excited about serving the students and making the campus
life more engaging, more inclusive for everybody because we are all from different countries and
everything. So, yeah, we all deserve to be heard and represented and this is what the SGA is for.
(09:12):
All of us all have the mindset that we truly just want to be out there at every point that we can be
out there and it's because all of us understand that you do have a bad suit of body. Oh, we have
credit students. We have non-credit students. We have students that only stay in one building. We
have students that are mainly AC and just don't go anywhere else. I'm really grateful that we
(09:32):
all have that understanding. We just all want to be out there to have students see us and be
comfortable with who SGA is and know who we are to even start with and like know that they can come
to us for help. That is the main thing that we want to connect with students because at the end
of the day, that's how we're connecting students to faculty. So we should really be available. What
(09:55):
challenges do you foresee arising in the future? Not only working with students but the faculty to
get what you guys need done. A separation of the generations if that makes sense. I feel like a big
conversation right now is talks of AI especially like coming from over in my side. My teachers I
feel like are more kind of like with use AI but use it appropriately. But I know for like other
(10:20):
majors like English and stuff like that, they're like absolutely don't use it. Like that's not your
voice. Don't use it. But I feel like there's that separation in generations especially because like
oh because I didn't have it, you don't get to use it. But it's like the world is moving on.
So I feel like that's probably going to be like one of the biggest things is like the separation
of the generations and like how things work now in the world compared to like what they grew up
in. That's a great perspective. Honestly, I think big picture versus little picture is something
(10:46):
that I foresee arising. It's just you don't know every ant you step on, you know, which is not to
say that the faculty doesn't care about what we have going on on campus on a day-to-day basis,
but sometimes they write it down and the notebook gets lost. So, it's just being persistent to be
sure that what we're saying is actually being heard and it's actually being understood like
(11:06):
we're being listened to, not just heard. I think it's really powerful that previously
with other SGAs when you had meetings with the president and the provost uh the president would
go or the BP would go. Time permitting we will all be in those meetings every time because we
all have something different to say. We've all been talking to different students. We all have
a perspective to bring and I'm a little bit of a pushover. Ian's not going to get pushed over. So
(11:30):
I want Ian in the meeting because when I was like, "Oh, sorry I even asked." She's going to be like,
"No, I'm not sorry. Let's revisit." We're standing 10 toes down. I think that's just
like being persistent and just continuing to do what we can and also getting it across to the
students that we are being persistent to bring that that positivity to bring that empathy.
(11:55):
And that wraps up a special albeit brief introduction to your new SGA leadership team.
We encourage everyone to get to know these student leaders, attend SGA meetings, and reach out with
your ideas and concerns. Your involvement is crucial to making HCC the best it can be.
You can find more information about the Student Government Association,
(12:19):
including their meeting schedule, contact details,
and how to get involved by searching SGA on the Howard Community College website or by visiting
their office above the student game room in SA200. Also want to give a special thanks
to Kia McLeod for helping conduct this interview. Until next time, this is Ryan Record signing out.
(12:45):
Thanks for tuning in. If you enjoyed what you just heard, we have a whole
universe of podcasts waiting for you. Simply search DragonPodcasts wherever you get your
podcasts. You can also explore our full lineup and discover new shows at podbean.com/dragonpodcast.
That's podbean.com/dragonpodcast.
[Music] Hello listeners and welcome to Dragon Talk, your award-winning student life podcast.
I'm your host, Ryan Record, and today I have the honor and privilege of shining a spotlight on the
students who will be representing your voice and working to enhance student life here at Howard
Community College for the upcoming academic year. We're incredibly excited to introduce you to the
(00:29):
newly elected Student Government Association leadership team for 2025 through 2026. And
they are excited to get to work. These are the individuals who are dedicated to serving our
student body, advocating for your needs and fostering a vibrant campus community. We're
going to hear directly from them about their roles, visions, and what they hope to achieve.
(00:52):
So without further ado, let's hear from your new SGA leadership firsthand.
Okay, if we can have our president introduce herself. Hi, I'm Christione Johnson. I'm the
SGA president for the 2025 to 2026 school year. What are you studying here at HCC?
(01:14):
I'm studying business administration and accounting. I'm a double major. Truthfully,
this is a transition for me. I used to be a dance major at university, so I just know
that I enjoy working with people. I did a lot of administrative work before I came here, and so
I'm looking to maybe get into human resources or get my certified public accounting license. Okay,
Miss Vice President, please introduce yourself and uh what are you studying here at HCC? Hi,
(01:40):
my name is Maryam Abdurrahman. I am a liberal arts and languages major and I hope to go into diplomacy.
I've always enjoying working with people. I just truly think that every single person is
just so interesting and has like a very unique story to share. So, I find working with people
very fulfilling for me personally. And I've also always been the more mediator type. So,
(02:05):
I feel like with those two things in mind, like a career in diplomacy would work the best. My name
is Ayanna King-Smith. I am the club liaison for SGA for the school year of 25-26. I
am currently a double major for life sciences and nursing. I hope to go to medical school to become
a forensic pathologist and study neurodegenerative diseases as they pertain to people of color with
(02:28):
substance abuse issues. So what inspires me as a woman of color, my like problems with my own body,
especially regarding health, have not always been heard out because there's not people that look
like us in the medical field. There's more now, but like there needs to be more. So like when
it comes to like people with neurodegenerative diseases, there's a disparity between people of
(02:50):
color that have these problems that usually don't get diagnosed until like the late stages when
they're already to a point where like treatment is not any option. So I want to do research to
help them to kind of like whether that be a cure or like at least have preventative measures so
they have more time with their families. My name is Nadia Bayiga. I'm the secretary treasurer for
the SGA 25-26 academic year. I'm a cyber security major and I chose to go into this field because
(03:16):
I always imagine myself working in an office, working on my computer, doing this, doing that
and I chose this major because it's more of a male-dominated field and I want to change
that. I'm trying to be a cyber security analyst, do great things. I want to create organizations,
nonprofit organizations that teach the youth about tech and yeah, give them great skills,
(03:39):
trying to do great things for the world. SGA president, what are some of your goals in the
SGA leadership position? One of my goals like internally is just to make sure that this energy
continues. I know there's so much of like this is the honeymoon period and you'll have your issues,
especially sharing an office space and just spending so much time with each other. But I
(03:59):
don't think that this energy and this motivation and this drive has to die down. So just trying to
keep this group as excited and motivated and close as we are right now. And we have plans of things
to do and hang you know it's not always work. So 5:00 hits we're off the clock is all I'm going to
say about that. But so that's an internal goal the homework session literally. But externally I think
(04:23):
I want to focus on academic achievement within the student body. I want to make sure that when
that final week comes, there's a lot of stress reduction things. There's a lot of study time
for people. There's an opportunity for them to speak with someone about time management so we
don't end up in a situation where they're cramming every semester on that last week,
but also a space where everybody just feels like they can work and get together because I
(04:43):
love doing that with these people so much. I feel like that's a good resource for people to have. I
also hope to do in the spring semester some life skills competency things because this is kind of
a gateway. It's going from high school to the real world or university or wherever you plan on going
after here. And you have to be getting ready for that cuz school is no longer teaching you. There's
(05:03):
not that fam-com class in your community college or your university, but you need to learn how to
do your laundry and you need to learn how to cook good meals for yourself and you need to learn how
to do your taxes. So, I'm hoping to bring some people in who can do some of those skills and find
out mostly what the students need this semester so that we can bring that to them next semester.
Um, and then other stuff that I want to do is just be open and available. I think I bring my
(05:27):
laptop to school a lot because I don't want to just work in the office. We want to be seen in
other buildings. Ian really brought this to our attention primarily because she spends so much
time in the set building and the KH building where the nursing students, the science students are,
different people like that. They don't get reached by student life as much as they should because we
stay over here in academic commons a lot. It is what's available to us. It's the easiest to
(05:49):
reserve these rooms and book these rooms. But that doesn't mean that we shouldn't be in the other
buildings. So just making sure we make our way all around campus and that everyone is feeling seen
because if the whole student body isn't feeling represented, what are we doing here? Right? That's
our whole job. That's what we're supposed to do. So those are some of the things that I just want
to focus on and I feel like this is the perfect team to make those things happen. So, how will you
(06:12):
know or measure if you're connecting with students or um if you're meeting the needs and individual
goals of students? Like, how are you are you going to do like surveys? Are you just going to
have those one-on-one conversations? Like, how will you know you're doing a good job? I mean,
(06:32):
we're always open to one-on-one conversations. Our door stays open. We have already had people
come in and ask us about how to apply to become a senator. We've had applications already. Club
applications are flowing fast and quickly and all the time and people are always asking about
how that process is going with our club liaison who is wonderful about it. So we have an open
door policy. If we're in the office, you're free to come into student life and talk to us at any
(06:55):
time. Um so I have that time to talk with students if they have anything to ask me. If they just want
to talk to me, I'm definitely open to that at all times. I had a student ask me where her class was
on the first day and shoot I didn't know but I was like I'm glad you felt comfortable to ask
me as SGA president some directions around campus but also surveys at all times for homecoming. We
don't want to just pick a location. We don't just want to pick a theme. We're going to ask people
(07:18):
about that during the Dragon Connection Fair cuz it's right in your face. We're going to put a QR
code out. We're going to survey that information from the survey. We're then going to break it down
to different options and survey again. like we really just want to keep checking in with
students and keep making sure that those needs are being met. And with our town halls, our student
body meetings, we hold these things every month. We have meetings with the president every month.
(07:39):
We're being that connector. And it's not entirely our job to make that happen. Students have to
want to connect with us, but we're extremely available. Like we're we're very easy to get to.
So, is there anything else you'd like to tell the student body about the SGAA? Join a club.
Yeah. Collaborate. Be friends with everyone. Like, there's really cool people here to meet. There's
(08:04):
also a lot of cool things to see on campus and off campus when we do our little excursions, but
like get connected with people. So, I genuinely think that my overall like college experience has
been a lot better at the fact that I did connect with people more than I did in high school. What
excites you all most about representing such a vast student body and how do you plan to empower
(08:26):
those to strive to be their best here at HCC? I'm excited to make the STEM and nursing voices heard.
Um, especially coming from a STEM student that kind of felt forgotten by like student life, it's
really great talking to students and getting ideas for them on like what they would like to see like
make being able to make the suggestion to Chris that like we do town halls in like all of the
(08:47):
different buildings rather than just this building so that every last like group feels like they're
being seen and heard. Personally, I'm excited about serving the students and making the campus
life more engaging, more inclusive for everybody because we are all from different countries and
everything. So, yeah, we all deserve to be heard and represented and this is what the SGA is for.
(09:12):
All of us all have the mindset that we truly just want to be out there at every point that we can be
out there and it's because all of us understand that you do have a bad suit of body. Oh, we have
credit students. We have non-credit students. We have students that only stay in one building. We
have students that are mainly AC and just don't go anywhere else. I'm really grateful that we
(09:32):
all have that understanding. We just all want to be out there to have students see us and be
comfortable with who SGA is and know who we are to even start with and like know that they can come
to us for help. That is the main thing that we want to connect with students because at the end
of the day, that's how we're connecting students to faculty. So we should really be available. What
(09:55):
challenges do you foresee arising in the future? Not only working with students but the faculty to
get what you guys need done. A separation of the generations if that makes sense. I feel like a big
conversation right now is talks of AI especially like coming from over in my side. My teachers I
feel like are more kind of like with use AI but use it appropriately. But I know for like other
(10:20):
majors like English and stuff like that, they're like absolutely don't use it. Like that's not your
voice. Don't use it. But I feel like there's that separation in generations especially because like
oh because I didn't have it, you don't get to use it. But it's like the world is moving on.
So I feel like that's probably going to be like one of the biggest things is like the separation
of the generations and like how things work now in the world compared to like what they grew up
in. That's a great perspective. Honestly, I think big picture versus little picture is something
(10:46):
that I foresee arising. It's just you don't know every ant you step on, you know, which is not to
say that the faculty doesn't care about what we have going on on campus on a day-to-day basis,
but sometimes they write it down and the notebook gets lost. So, it's just being persistent to be
sure that what we're saying is actually being heard and it's actually being understood like
(11:06):
we're being listened to, not just heard. I think it's really powerful that previously
with other SGAs when you had meetings with the president and the provost uh the president would
go or the BP would go. Time permitting we will all be in those meetings every time because we
all have something different to say. We've all been talking to different students. We all have
a perspective to bring and I'm a little bit of a pushover. Ian's not going to get pushed over. So
(11:30):
I want Ian in the meeting because when I was like, "Oh, sorry I even asked." She's going to be like,
"No, I'm not sorry. Let's revisit." We're standing 10 toes down. I think that's just
like being persistent and just continuing to do what we can and also getting it across to the
students that we are being persistent to bring that that positivity to bring that empathy.
(11:55):
And that wraps up a special albeit brief introduction to your new SGA leadership team.
We encourage everyone to get to know these student leaders, attend SGA meetings, and reach out with
your ideas and concerns. Your involvement is crucial to making HCC the best it can be.
You can find more information about the Student Government Association,
(12:19):
including their meeting schedule, contact details,
and how to get involved by searching SGA on the Howard Community College website or by visiting
their office above the student game room in SA200. Also want to give a special thanks
to Kia McLeod for helping conduct this interview. Until next time, this is Ryan Record signing out.
(12:45):
Thanks for tuning in. If you enjoyed what you just heard, we have a whole
universe of podcasts waiting for you. Simply search DragonPodcasts wherever you get your
podcasts. You can also explore our full lineup and discover new shows at podbean.com/dragonpodcast.
That's podbean.com/dragonpodcast.
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