With the recent SGA elections, the Trinitonian sat down with president-elect Danny Nguyen and senators-elect Penelope Slentz and Allison Waters. These interviews are a “getting to know you” tool for these student representatives, so SGA policy is not discussed. Instead, this is a look at their views of Trinity and their favorite things. Conversations have been lightly edited for grammar, spelling and clarity.

Danny Nguyen: President-elect 2022-23, class of 2024

Trinitonian: How would you introduce yourself to someone you’ve never met?
Danny Nguyen: My name is Danny and I’m a sophomore and marketing communications degree student. I’m born and raised in San Antonio. I spend most of my life on the west side of San Antonio. I’m currently involved in various things, including but not limited to the American Marketing Association and as of right now, I am the president-elect for the Student Government Association.

T: What led you to Trinity?
DN: The biggest thing that really attracted [me to] Trinity was definitely the community aspect. One of the most important factors aside from academics and financial aid is community. I wanted to go to school where I could felt like I belonged in the community, and [Trinity had a] very familial kind of atmosphere.

One of the things I enjoy every day on campus is the fact that anytime I walk to class or anywhere, I’ll recognize at least one person and the fact that you’re able to say hi to people every day. It’s very rewarding and satisfying feeling for me. And so I would say for me, the community is what I’ve really enjoyed.

T: What do you love about Trinity?
DN: What I love about Trinity is the fact that we embrace our differences. And the fact that even though we do have differences, it doesn’t really deter us from really interacting with each other. When you look at it from a student perspective, whether it’s racial, ethnic or socioeconomic diversity, or even the idea of just taking different majors, like STEM majors and business majors, we still interact and we’re still friends.

Even though I’m a business major, I would say that most of my social circles [are] with STEM students or athletes or more artsy creative students. It’s a good feeling to have to know that, even though there’s differences between us, the differences really connect us together: one Trinity community.

T: What are you involved in on Campus?
Aside from SGA, I’m also part of the American Marketing Association, the Vietnamese Students Association, and then I’m also part of TigerTV as an associate producer at Newswave. All of these [organizations] have given me great opportunities. I’ve gotten to meet various people from alumni, including the mayor of San Antonio, and I’ve gotten the privilege to interview him. I’m looking to be more involved in the coming years.

Danny’s Favorites
Favorite color: Orange.
Favorite movie: I like any of the Star Wars movies.
Favorite TV show: I gotta say Game of Thrones.
Favorite artist: It’s older artists probably like ABBA or Led Zeppelin. If it’s younger, Greta Van Fleet or Ed Sheeran.
Favorite book: “The Great Gatsby”
Favorite Trinity class: Principles of Advertising with Dr. [Rebecca] Densley. It was [a] super fun class getting to work with actual businesses. Just a great professor and it’s just a great time.
Favorite thing to do around campus: Tacos El Regio, I love the food trucks!

Penelope Slentz: Senator-elect, class of 2024

Trinitonian: How would you introduce yourself to someone you’ve never met?
Penelope Slentz: I’m a sophomore at Trinity right now. I’m a poli sci, English double major. And I’m on the SGA. This year, I was the Legislative Relations Chair, so I’m excited to be a senator next semester. I love playing tennis and I also love horseback riding.

T: What led you to Trinity?

PS: I was looking at a liberal arts education. I actually came in as pre-med. I started taking pre-med classes, and I was like, ‘This isn’t for me.’ But I kind of knew I just needed a place where I could find what I really was passionate about.

So I remember when I visited the campus, I thought this is so nice and positive, and you can take so many different classes and different topics. We have an equestrian team, so I was really interested in that. This is so much fun where I could explore who I am.

T: What do you love about Trinity?

I really like all the people I meet at Trinity. I think that everybody’s super nice [and] interesting. Everybody’s very motivated, and the connections I’m able to make at Trinity are just so inspirational.

T: What are you involved in on Campus?
I love the tennis club team. I was on the Mirage as the department’s editor and then the sales director. So I kind of used my marketing experience in SGA as the legislative relations chair. My job was to be that connection between student clubs and organizations, to help organize events, to help funding and be a mediator for connections.

Penelope’s Favorites

Favorite Color: I have to say green. It’s just so earthy.
Favorite movie: “Midsommar”
Favorite TV show: “Killing Eve”
Favorite artist: I like Gus Stafford and a lot of indie artists.
Favorite book: “Wuthering Heights”
Favorite Trinity class: East Asian Security with Dr. [Yen-Hsin] Chen. He’s one of my favorite professors!
Favorite thing to do around campus: I would say horseback riding.

Allison Waters: Senator-elect, class of 2025

Trinitonian: How would you introduce yourself to someone you’ve never met?
I’m Allison Waters. I’m a freshman here at Trinity, I’m planning on majoring in International Business and I’m from Portland, Oregon.

T: What led you to Trinity?
I’m from Oregon, which is really far from here. A lot of people ask me how I even heard of Trinity. I came here to Texas on vacation, and I was like, ‘I’ll just visit campus to just see what it’s like,’ and I really liked it. Then I applied, I was accepted, so I came back. It really felt like my high school, where it was a small community that was really tight-knit and supportive. I really love this and so I decided to come here.

T: What do you love about Trinity?
Definitely the community. I love how I can just walk around campus and know a ton of people all over.

T: What are you involved in on Campus?
I’m involved in SGA, as a Senator. I’m also involved in choir, and I go on basically all the OREC [Outdoor Recreation] trips.

Allison’s Favorites

Favorite Color: Blue
Favorite movie: “Lilo and Stitch”
Favorite TV show: Probably, “Criminal Minds”
Favorite artist: Taylor Swift!
Favorite book: My favorite series is The Lunar Chronicles.
Favorite Trinity class: Probably my Spanish class because of the professor [Prof. J’Leen Saeger]. She’s very funny.
Favorite thing to do around campus: I love to hang out with my friends and go downtown with them.

Penelope Slentz is employed by Campus Publications as the Advertising Director for the Mirage.