By
Emily Severson
Arizona Daily Wildcat
Quintero looks to next year for growth and learning
A teary-eyed Ben Graff ended his four years of student government involvement yesterday when he passed on his ASUA presidency to Ray Quintero.
"Though my time in office ends today, the excitement continues next year," Graff said at the Associated Students inauguration held on the UA Mall.
"I feel like I am giving away my home, but I am happy to give it to Ray."
ASUA's three new executive officers and 10 senators were sworn in by Jess Walsh, ASUA Supreme Court chief justice, after each of the outgoing officers spoke.
Graff said his time in student government has been an "amazing ride." He said he especially appreciated watching the campus construction get closer to completion, and was proud that this year ASUA saw its first online elections.
Along with keys to his office, Graff gave Quintero an ASUA field-hockey stick from the 1940s, a basketball that had been passed on beginning with former president Gilbert Davidson in 1997 and the ASUA spirit stick - which has been passed down through all the past student body presidents.
Graff also gave Quintero a plaque with a picture of Quintero and Executive Vice President Sam Chang when they won their election in March.
After he was sworn in, Quintero thanked his family for helping him to fulfill his childhood goal of becoming a University of Arizona student body president.
Quintero recalled the days when he attended UA football games as a child and would see the student body president. He said he knew at that moment that he would be in the same spot someday.
"I decided to run when I realized it was possible I would get elected, and I felt I was ready and willing to serve the students," Quintero said.
Quintero added that he was looking forward to serving students and saw the upcoming year as a great opportunity to learn and grow.
Erick Negri reminisced about how he felt when he was inaugurated a year ago as executive vice president before offering words of advice to his successor, Chang.
"I was so excited and thankful for the students for trusting me," Negri said. "Sam worked relentlessly to increase voter turnout in the national elections, and he has amazing ideas to help club funding."
He added that he was grateful for the opportunity to see the new ASUA leaders take office, and was happy to be replaced by Chang.
Among the items Negri passed on to Chang were a red UA flag signed by himself, keys to the executive vice president's office and the senate gavel -which he advised Chang not to hesitate to use.
"Sam is walking into the best ASUA position because he gets to work with students, and it's fun," Negri said.
A tearful Tiffany Podbielski, former administrative vice president, said the inauguration was a "wonderful" day, and she felt many improvements had been made within ASUA's programs and services.
Among the programs that Podbielski mentioned were the escort service and the Minority Action Council.
She said she was excited about Tricia Williams taking her place.
"There is no person I would rather see be the next administrative vice president than Tricia," Podbielski said.
Along with a UA flag signed by Podbielski and her predecessor Vivian Safrin, she passed down a wind sock with the names of all ASUA's programs and services.
She said she hoped the wind sock would remind Williams to help programs and services "fly like the wind."
