Eager to get involved with the UW Bothell community, I applied for the position of director of legislative affairs for the Associated Students of the University of Washington Bothell — even before completing my first-year orientation last summer.
I had knowledge of the legislative process and had previous testifying experience while working for the student government at Bellevue College, which I attended as a Running Start student. Although I was director of events at BC and my primary focus was coordinating our monthly large-scale events, elections and hiring processes, and running our social media account, I also got to be involved in our legislative and civic efforts.
Both Bellevue College and UW Bothell serve as member campuses of the Washington Student Association, a coalition of 13 student governments across Washington working to make higher education more affordable, accessible and inclusive. Through the association, I attended multiple lobby days during the 2024 legislative session and got to testify on my first bill. Then in April of 2024, I had the opportunity to work with the WSA in hosting the annual Spring General Assembly at BC, the first time it had been hosted at a community college.
Now I’m excited to be working as the vice president of communications for the WSA Executive Committee and planning the 2025 Spring General Assembly at UW Bothell!
Through my WSA position, I also started working closely with the Washington Bus, a statewide movement-building organization that increases political access and participation for young people across the state. I was able to grow the relationship with ASUWB when we partnered on our Pledge to Vote project last fall. Through tabling, class presentations, social media campaigns and events, we had nearly 300 students pledge to vote in the November elections. As part of the initiative, Congresswoman Suzan DelBene and Jeb Brewer, a candidate for the 1st Congressional District, came to campus to speak to students.
This work connected so many students to ASUWB, many of whom now serve on our Student Senate and who attended our annual tri-campus lobby day, Huskies on the Hill, on Feb. 3. In previous years, there had been limited participation from UW Bothell students in planning and attending the lobby day. This year, we had more than 65 students RSVP to attend. Unfortunately, due to a snow storm the night before, only about 30 students participated. Still, this was triple the number of attendees at past lobby days.
Participants included almost all of the ASUWB officers, including Fernanda Armas, president; Rajbir Sandhu, vice president; Emily Park, director of senate; Adan Rodriguez, director of finance; Tushar Ganta, director of community partnerships; Dagim Woldemichael, policy & personnel coordinator; and Rawah Al Nahi, legislative liaison. Fernanda and Rawah were both instrumental in planning Huskies on the Hill, joining our weekly calls with the Associated Students of UW Seattle, Tacoma and the Graduate & Professional Student Senate, and helping coordinate all the logistics to get our students from Bothell to Olympia.
Across all three UW campuses and all four student governments, we had more than 370 students RSVP, which, as far as we know, is the most engagement we’ve had in a long time — if not ever.
UW students met with their state representatives and senators to share their stories and legislative priorities, including our number one priority of funding the Washington College Grant, our state’s most equitable financial aid program that 47 percent of UW Bothell undergraduate students use to fund their education.
The Washington College Grant was created in 2019 to replace the former State Need Grant. It is funded through the Workforce Education Investment Account, which is supported by increased business and occupation taxes on certain businesses, including those in the advanced computing sector. It seeks to fill the gap that leaves nearly a quarter of students with unmet need each year.
Since its creation, students have advocated to expand eligibility, which is calculated by how much a student makes annually and the state’s median family income. Students who make 0-55% of the MFI receive full award amounts, with those who make 55-100% of the MFI receiving partial aid.
From their advocacy the past two years, students have increased the MFI amount for full award recipients to 60 percent (2024) and this year to 65 percent, giving full financial aid to an additional 8,000 to 10,000 students. This year, I and the other student lobbyists advocated to increase to 70 percent MFI but due to the state budget deficit, our priorities shifted to codifying the 65 percent into law.
During our Huskies on the Hill rally, students held up signs with phrases such as “Fund WA College Grant,” “Invest in the Future of Education” and “Invest in Us,” echoing their support for the college grant and for higher education affordability.
Throughout the day, the most common word I heard was “interesting.” Students described meeting legislators as “interesting.” It was “interesting” to learn about the different careers related to policy and advocacy through the speakers we brought in from UW State Relations, the governor’s office and other lobbyists. And it was overall “interesting” to learn about the legislative process, something not ordinarily taught in school.
Since Huskies on the Hill, I’ve continued to engage UW Bothell students by submitting monthly articles to our campus newspaper, the Husky Herald, and by working on mobilization campaigns.
With the Washington Student Association and Washington Bus, we led a campaign for students to contact their legislators during the legislative session to share their stories about how financial aid and tuition increases impact their lives. From across the state, we’ve had more than 1,500 students send more than 4,500 emails to their legislators echoing the importance of the Washington College Grant and how a tuition increase would impact their education.
With the session coming to an end on April 28, I will continue to advocate for and protect the students of UW Bothell. I’m grateful to have been given the opportunity to be a full-time student lobbyist in Olympia and will never forget the stories I’ve heard and the people who have been impacted by the work of student lobbyists. I’ve learned more about state government and policy then I ever thought I would — and am looking forward to a future as a legislator creating change for the betterment of students.
Sienna Jarrard is a junior majoring in Law, Economics & Public Policy. She graduated from Bellevue College with her associate degree in spring 2024 after participating in the Running Start program. As director of legislative affairs for ASUWB, she has been living and working in Olympia since winter quarter.
