Association of Amherst Students (AAS) What Has the AAS Done in the Past?

Past AAS Activities in more recent years

Ilyssa Forman '22 and Sydney Ireland '23 organized and funded one year of premium access to the meditation app Headspace for students.

Courtney Resch '22 organized the Marriage Pact matching program in Spring 2021.

Cole Graber-Mitchell '22 provided student access to the Daily Hampshire Gazette, promoting greater awareness of news local to the Amherst area.

Sofia Guerra '23 hosted a student town hall on the Amherst College Police Department with Director of Campus Safety John Carter and Chief of Campus Operations Jim Brassord.

Sirus Wheaton '23 facilitated the provision of 400 sets of free laundry detergent sheets and toothpaste pellets for student use.

Jalen Woodard '23 and James Hulsizer '23 provided gift cards and a discount for students for the Delivery Express food delivery service during Spring 2021.

Yvette Kiptoo '23 organized the TYPO-R program (Take Your Peer Out) to promote community building for off-campus students during COVID-19.

Jae Yun Ham '22 hosted an event to assist students with filing their taxes.

Lori Alarcon '24, Maira Owais '23, and Lucas Romualdo '24 organized a take-out dinner for underclassmen on the first-year quad in Spring 2021.

George Tepe '14 and Ian Hatch '14 organized a community-wide gathering to support the victims of the Boston Marathon bombing.

Rama Hagos '15 organized "Jazz Under the Stars," which was held on memorial hill during May 2013.

Members of the AAS led by AAS President Tania Dias '13 worked with the administration to organize a Day of Dialogue about sexual respect at Amherst, organized a meeting with the Amherst College Trustees about sexual respect and worked to appoint students to the Title IX Committee.

Matt DeButts '14 and Chris Friend '14 organized an election night watch party for the 2012 Presidential Election with the Amherst Democrats and the Amherst Political Union.

Ian Hatch,’14 put up a clock in alumni gym.

George Tepe, ’14 worked to save $10,000 a year on the Olio, cutting the Olio's yearly budget to $70,000.

Matt Debutts, ’14 organizes “King of the Hill Trivia Nights” every second Tuesday at 8:00 at Plimpton House.

Romen Borsellino ‘12, Matthew Aizpuru,’12 and Jess Sidhu, ’14 worked with the administration on a social life task force to improve social life at Amherst.  The task force organized an 90’s themed party and a pub night on campus.  They have also successfully lobbied the administration to install sprinkler systems in the basements of the Socials to allow them to once again be used as a party space.

George Tepe, ’14, after finding $70,000 sitting at the UMass Fine Arts Center, worked to refund the AAS and to rewrite the contact with the Fine Arts Center to increase collaboration and guarantee the viability of subsidized student tickets.

Chris Friend,’14 put a drum set in Marsh, helping to more easily host music music events at the Arts theme house.

John Yarchoan, ’13 is working to create a bike share program on campus so students can rent a bike for a few hours.

Ian Hatch and George Tepe have recieved $20,000 from the college to install a plug-in station for electric vehicles on campus. With additional money from the student government they will purchase an electric vehicle for ACEMS. The charging station has been installed next to Grovsvenor House.

Senators consulted on the renovation and redesign of Seligman house.

Maia Mares, ’14 is creating historical exhibits located in the Triangle to educate students about their dorms.

Senators are assigned individual dorms increase communications between the student government and students.

The Senate held periodic “AAS Listens” tables in Val to get student input on campus issues.

Alex Hurst '12 worked with other Senators to hang Christmas lights on the trees outside of Frost Library.

The AAS Senate held multiple late night snacks in Val.

Dvij Bajpai '15 and Jeff Feldman '15 got funding to install key-card readers in the practice rooms in the basement of James and Sterns. This system will allow those who sign up to have access to all practice rooms, instead of assigned to one.

Joe Kim '14 organized and handed out thousands of free boxes to students for packing at the end of the year.

Alex Stein, ’13 revived Amherst Scrutiny, allowing students to rate their professors for the benefit of other students.

Matt Debutts, ’14 held an election night so that interested students could watch and get more information about the 2010 elections.

Jess Sidhu, ’14 purchased an electric piano for a practice room in James.

Jacob Ong organized an enterprise pitch competition to increase support for entrepreneurship on campus.

George Tepe, ’14 purchased 3 GPS systems available to all students for up to 4 days from the circulation desk at Frost

The AAS hands out free storage boxes at the end of the year.

The AAS purchased TVs for the gym.

The AAS have $70,000 to the college during the financial crisis, $50,000 towards financial aid and $20,000 to help the college’s lowest-paid employees retain their salaries.