Photo Courtesy of Facebook
By: Althea Alabat
Kihmary Somcio is a third year business administration student majoring in Marketing. Somcio is the current president of the International Student Club (ISC) as of January 2019.
She was introduced to the club early last year through a friend that was a part of the club at the time.
“I thought the club was only open to International students, but it is also open to domestic students,” said Somcio.
She found herself spending more time at the International Center and having great conversations with other members of the club.
Somcio met former ISC President, Panharith In, who was Vice President Events of the club during that time. In invited her to join him and several other members to come out to club events. In previously recognized Somcio and her photography work when she was featured in Photo NAITion’s social media. This led to an invitation for Somcio to photograph for one of ISC’s events called Life After NAIT.
ISC eventually took her on as the club’s photographer. She started to become more engaged with the club through her involvement with events and attend the meetings. Last summer, she was approached by several executives of the club, asking if she would like to take on the role as vice president communications, where her role would consist of manning the club’s social media.
Before the end of 2018, the club had to appoint new executives and a new president because In was approaching graduation. A candidate was already voted in to be president and Somcio was voted in to be the new VP events.
“Initially I said no because I thought it would be too much work, especially since I didn’t have much experience in the club,” said Somcio.
She eventually said yes after she was reassured that it would be good experience for her. Nearly a week later, the club’s newest president announced that they were going to step down from presidency. This left the club with no current president and ISC could not continue to operate without one. The deadline to have the next president elected was time-sensitive, and no one had reached out to try to run for the spot.
“A part of me wanted to apply, but I was scared I didn’t have enough experience and that I would fail the club,” said Somcio. “I was told by a friend that if there’s a small inkling of interest to even try, I should go for it”.
Somcio submitted her application video several hours after the announcement and was voted in as ISC’s new president shortly after.
“When you take on a leadership role, you’re not only representing yourself, but the entire club as well. The actions of the club and its members reflects you as the face of the club,” said Somcio.
ISC has been an established club since 2002 is the biggest club on campus.
“There’s a lot of pressure in maintaining the success of the club,” said Somcio. “Being the president has made school fun because of the overwhelming support I have from my friends and the club.”
