PHOTO COURTESY IAN ALFARO
A newly elected Student Government Association for the 2026-27 school year is preparing to assume office May 4, as announced by the Dean of Students April 13 via email.
The Team Victoriam ticket won the executive election, with 2.8% of eligible voters participating.
The incoming executive branch is led by Ian Alfaro, president-elect; Kayla Johnson, internal vice president-elect; and Kevin Flores, external vice president-elect.
Alfaro, who currently serves as external vice president, said his decision to run for president was largely influenced by the progress he witnessed over the past year, particularly in building partnerships and increasing campus engagement through events.
“I think what really motivated me was just the amount of work and the amount of change that we did this year,” he said. “We created a relationship with the City of Edinburg. We had also created the student cook-off, establishing that new tradition.”
Looking ahead, Alfaro said one of his primary goals is expanding partnerships to include the City of Brownsville, an effort already in motion and designed to open opportunities, not only for current students, but for future SGA administrations as well.
“I want to establish this relationship that way, not only just for this year, but for all the upcoming SGA leaders,” he said. “So for the next president … they have that relationship already enabled with the cities and … they can do work with them, whether it’s collaborating for fundraisers, whether it’s doing fun things, whether it’s also establishing positions where a student can have a voice in a civic matter.”
In addition to strengthening external partnerships, Alfaro emphasized the importance of improving internal coordination within SGA by encouraging senators to be more direct with academic departments and student organizations, a strategy he said he believes will help ensure a wider range of student concerns are heard and addressed.
Alfaro, when asked to share a fun fact about himself, said he is left-handed, he quotes, a trait many presidents of the United States share.
Johnson, who will serve as internal vice president, described her role as centered on communication and advocacy, with a focus on gathering student feedback and bringing those concerns to the appropriate university departments in an effort to create improvements.
“If there’s an issue that students have, we would take those, and we would have meetings with these departments to make sure that they actually take action,” she said.
Johnson said her priorities include both immediate, visible changes, such as improving seating in the Student Union on the Edinburg campus.
She added her long-term concerns include advocating for increased availability of in-person classes in certain academic programs, such as in the psychology department, whose course selection consists of several online asynchronous-only classes.
At the same time, Johnson said issues such as parking or policy constraints require advocacy.
“There’s a lot of policies or things that we cannot change,” she said. “The most we can do, at least at the moment, is advocacy.”
Johnson, when asked to share a fun fact about herself, said she is a “The Smiths” fan, a music “nerd” and plays video games on a daily basis.
Flores, who currently serves as a senator At-Large for Edinburg, said his work as external vice president will center on visibility, particularly to ensure students are aware of SGA’s presence, resources and ability to support them.
He said a lack of awareness kept him from engaging with SGA, something he now hopes to change for others.
“When I was a freshman, sophomore, I had no idea SGA even existed,” Flores said. “I wanted to help clubs [and] help the people out. If people don’t know [SGA] exists, they don’t know what we can give them and how we can help them.”
To address the gap, he added he plans to expand outreach efforts through campus events, increased engagement with student organizations and more direct communication about available resources, including funding opportunities for clubs.
In addition to outreach, he said he has interest in promoting mental health awareness and improving students’ comfort with accessing support services, drawing on his own experiences navigating those systems and recognizing the barriers that can prevent students from seeking help.
“My top [priority] is just to inform people more and more [that] we exist and how we can help them,” Flores said.
Flores, when asked to share a fun fact about himself, said he really loves chess and is working on a chess-jujitsu collaboration for the chess club he is an officer for.
