FRIDAY, APRIL 17
SPRING 2026 | ISSUE 8 WHAT’S INSIDE:
Opinion
Arts and Culture
Photo Page
Movie Review: “Pizza Movie”
Cardinal Creative: Natalie VazquezMartinez
WLAX vs. Potsdam
Student Association
SA referendum passes, senators elected BY SIERRA BABBIE Staff Writer
During the Student Association general election and referendum, Hassani St. John was elected president, Dominick Andre won the vote for vice president and the student body opted for the continuation of the SA fee. St. John achieved 56.37% of the presidential vote with 332 votes in total, and Andre achieved 59.59% of the vice-president vote with 351 votes. Angel Almaraz Castillo won the race for treasurer against three other candidates by achieving 50% of the vote with 295 votes. For the referendum, 516 students, or 87.61% of voters, chose to keep the Student Association fee. The election for SA senate was competitive, with 23 candidates running for 10 spots. The 10 candidates who achieved the greatest support, in order of most votes to less votes, are Sofia Tabares, Lillyana Vargas Bradshaw, Krishma Karki, Ava LaVine, Sami Goodman, Justin Thomas, Hrudayee Jagtap, Juliana Praino, Sanam Baniya and Nicholas Bilow. During the meeting on April 8, the SA senate approved funding for several campus organizations. The Criminal Justice Club sought funding for several upcoming trips to
GRYPHON AKRIDGE-PHILLIPS/Cardinal Points
Student Association senators Khadka, Kilbon, Lavine and Nessler listen to a club representative during the meeting March 25. local facilities relating to potential careers for students in the major. These trips include visits to the Clinton County Correctional Facility, Federal Correctional Institute Ray Brook and New York State Police Troop B headquarters. “It’s more of a hands-on experience that students don’t necessarily get in the classroom. They’re able to see things and talk to professionals in
the field, which isn’t necessarily always offered in criminal justice classes,” president of the Criminal Justice Club, Ben Weldon said. “It’s providing experiences and opportunities to students that aren’t already there.” The Student Association approved the club for $750, the full requested funding, in a 12-1 vote. House of Divinity, the campus modeling club,
was approved for $750 in funding for a fashion show in a 10-3 vote. The event took place on April 16 in collaboration with K.I.N.K.S., and was inspired by New York Fashion Week. Ashley Rufino, president of House of Divinity, shared some of the aspects of this year’s event. “We’re having a collaboration hair portion with K.I.N.K.S. People that are
part of that collaboration will be able to get their hair done for free in exchange for modeling the hairstyle,” Rufino said. “We’re also having dance teams perform. We’re having some students that are interested in music also collab and do a musical performance. We just want to bring the creativity that we see on campus.” K.I.N.K.S. was approved for $300 in funding to
compensate three stylists who attended the New York themed fashion show in an 11-2 vote. “Last year, we weren’t able to pay our stylists what they deserved. I want to make it fair for the stylists that are spending their time and their craft,” president of K.I.N.K.S. Deney Jackson said. Email SIERRA BABBIE cp@cardinalpointsonline.com
Late Night brings sexual assault services to light BY GRANT TERWILLIGER Editor in Chief
Late Night for the Planet brought members of sexual assault services to the stage for their final game show of the semester April 8. The first speaker of the night was Shelli LaVoie, director of sexual assault services for Planned Parenthood of the North Country. According to LaVoie, the mission of sexual assault services is to support victims and survivors through trauma informed care. “I love being part of a system that helps people work through challenges and empowers them to find hope and strength,” LaVoie said. “We are able to offer these services completely free of charge to anybody and all that you need to do is come to us and tell us that you would like some assistance. We don’t ask any questions.” Some of the sexual assault services that Planned Parenthood provides are legal advocacy, counseling services, accompaniment and trainings. The second speaker of the night was Gail Bjelko, an emergency room RN at the Champlain Valley Physicians Hospital. Bjelko works with physical trauma at the emergency room, but is also a sexual assault nurse examiner and the coordinator of the program. According to Bjelko the emergency
HIRAM COWHEY/Cardinal Points
Gail Bjelko, Shelli Lavoie and Emily Stanley discuss sexual assault services in the North Country April 8. room only receives 40 or less cases of sexual assault a year. Bjelko mainly works in the emergency room treating patients with physical injuries, but said that she finds that being a sexual assault nurse examiner is about being there for patients. “Being with patients, being with the advocates, and really doing and providing the best care possible for those patients who have been traumatized,” Bjelko said. “The care the nurse provides for the patient is really based on what the patient wants. So there’s nothing that we do that they don’t consent to.”
Bjelko said they partner with St. Peters health partners out of Albany for their telesafe program that provides a sexual assault nurse examiner via telemedicine if there is not a nurse specialized in sexual assault exams on site. Services are available 24/7. CVPH also collects evidence up to 120 hours or five days after an assault as well as offers sexual assault exams, accompaniments, STI prophylaxis and HIV prophylaxis. The third speaker of the night was Emily Stanley, a community impact manager at Planned Parenthood of the North
Country and a certified rape crisis counselor through their services. According to Stanley, trauma informed care focuses on the individual and their experiences and on what kind of support they need at the time such as person first language and skill building. “When we’re working with people who’ve experienced sexual violence, sometimes we use words like victim and survivor, but those are things that we don’t assign to a person,” Stanley said. “We kind of follow the lead of how they identify, and they may not identify with either, and that’s okay too.” Stanley emphasized that the sexual assault services hotline for Planned Parenthood, 877-212-2323, is available 24/7 and provides supportive services and accompaniment services. “We don’t require anyone to share any type of information, whatever they’re comfortable with sharing,” Stanley said. LaVoie highlighted the importance of the individual and their choice on what actions they would like to take following a sexual assault. “We talk often as a program that everything that brings someone to see us was not their choice,” LaVoie said. “So really it is, hopefully, the beginning of empowering them to the future.”
Email GRANT TERWILLIGER cp@cardinalpointsonline.com