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Recently elected Student Government President Carrie Riffee and Vice President Michael Reyes want PPCC students to be more involved in SG activities. They can back up that concern by noting that not even one percent of the PPCC student population made the effort to vote online during the April election. Reyes says, "We want students to know what SG does, and that we are there for them."
Reyes has focused on starting a program this fall to mentor PPCC students for retention purposes. Along with the college mentoring program, Reyes and Riffee want to enforce the PPCC smoking policy and improve the recycling effort at PPCC during their fall and spring semesters as president and vice president. Riffee says, "There's so much we want to do."
Along with Riffee's parenting and SG duties, she was the first to participate in "Shadow Day" with the mayor of Colorado Springs. She also has been involved with youth ministry at her church, Colorado Springs Young Marines, Tessa (concerning domestic violence), curbing the meth lab problem in Colorado Springs, and Kids First. Riffee says, "Kids who smoke are four times likelier to use drugs."
Like many other single parents at PPCC, she juggles taking at least 10 credits per semester with three kids, who she calls "three of the best kids." Her day begins with leaving a note every morning about "what I expect" from them that day. Riffee and her children do homework together. "I let them help me with my projects, and they have more respect for me; their grades have also improved." Riffee's studying together with her children "has made them raise the bar for themselves. They think if I can do it, so can they."
Riffee is a political science major, and Reyes, a geology major, plans to get his master's degree in space science. Along with being a husband and father of a two-year-old son, Reyes works with the Veterans Upward Bound and tutors at the PPCC Math Lab, as well as helping with Student Support Services and the Learning Assistance Center.
You can contact Riffee or Reyes at 540-7163. Their summer office hours are as follows:
Centennial Campus:
8 a.m. to 10 a.m. - Tuesday through Thursday
Noon to whenever - Friday
Rampart Range Campus:
8 a.m. to 10 a.m. - Monday
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SG President and Vice President Want More Student Involvement