Komalpreet Sahota, the Associated Student Government Chief Justice Elect for the 2013-2014 school year, is the youngest person on the ASG. A Running Start student from Kentridge High School, Sahota was pleasantly surprised when she was elected. But now that the position is hers, Sahota is excited to serve the student body.
“When I came to Bellevue College in the fall, I saw how much we could do on campus to make it better,” she said. “There was a lot of student involvement and I wanted to become a part of it.”
Sahota is already involved in multiple clubs; she started the Environmental Club and is the co-president of Amnesty International, which hosts events nearly every week. Most recently, Sahota and her co-president organized a visit from Zeke Johnson, the director of Amnesty International USA’s Security with Human Rights Campaign, to talk to the club about torture.
Sahota’s passion for human rights stems from her cultural background; Sahota and her family, who are of Indian descent, practice Sikhism. “Where I come from in India, we are discriminated upon and not given as many human rights as we should have,” she said. “It comes from that. I care about human rights and want to help my community. Even here we’re discriminated upon.”
In conjunction with her passion for equality, Sahota also has a deep-seated love for legislation. “I like looking into laws and different legislations and trying to make them better and more understandable,” she said earnestly. “I like the fact that [as Chief Justice] I would be very close to the campus’s bylaws.”
Next year, Sahota plans on ensuring that the student body is more aware of the bylaws, as well as ruling as fairly as she can on the traffic court. “I want to make sure each ticket is handled on a case-by-case basis,” she said.
In the future, Sahota hopes to work in human rights, either as a lawyer or for a nonprofit. “My ultimate goal, one of my far off, distant dreams is to work in the UN,” she said.
Sahota will begin her term as Chief Justice in June.
