Year: Sophomore
Hometown: Flemington, New Jersey
Major: History and criminal justice
Student organizations/activities: GW Palooza, Phi Alpha Theta Honor Society, Trust for the National Mall
SA experience: CCAS-U senator, senate chairperson pro tempore, Accountability Mechanism member
Favorite restaurant in the District: Mi Vida
Your favorite “Only at GW” moment: Being 30 feet away from President Joe Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris and First Lady Jill Biden at Arlington National Cemetery on Memorial Day
Favorite class: Criminal Justice System: Arrest Through Appeal with Glenn Kirschner
Go-to study spot: First floor of the University Student Center
Role model: My mom
Moniker choice: Revolutionaries
Deli order: Sausage, egg and cheese on an everything bagel

At his second meeting freshman year for the Student Association’s oversight group, Demetrius Apostolis was alone.

Thinking that others were running late, Apostolis said he waited for more than an hour. Still, no one came, and no one followed up.

Apostolis was there to help pitch advice on SA issues, planning to pitch an Instagram account that would post updates about Finance Committee work. But he said after the SA’s community liaison who led the group known as the Accountability Mechanism stepped down, no one replaced her and the mechanism dissolved.

Apostolis said the experience encouraged him to run for an SA Senate seat to make the SA “more welcoming.”

“I stayed there for an hour and waited, and no one came,” he said. “And from there, I ran for senate.”

Apostolis is now running for vice president of the SA after serving as the third-highest ranking member on the SA as the senate chairperson pro tempore and a Columbian College of Arts and Sciences senator. He said if elected, he will advocate for more dining options for people with dietary restrictions, increased funding transparency in the SA and more career events.

After starting a dining focus group that proposed dining hall improvements like better dish labeling and expanded allergy-friendly options, Apostolis said he remains committed to gathering student feedback on GW’s all-you-can-eat dining system that launched this academic year.

“It doesn’t matter who it is, I’m always wanting to get coffee with everybody,” Apostolis said. “You can ask almost everyone in the Student Association, you can ask members of the public, when they request a coffee or call or whatever, I make time for it.”

Apostolis said he wants to carry this open dialogue to the SA presidency, where he said a lack of communication hinders the organization’s effectiveness. He said SA President Christian Zidouemba and SA Vice President Yan Xu currently “don’t speak.”

“They’re not on speaking terms,” he said. “And I think that needs to change first and foremost.”

Apostolis said he hopes to secure multiple career fairs at GW during the next academic year after heading February’s Career Exploration EXPO, the first in-person career fair since 2019 which attracted more than 70 employers.

Apostolis said he wants to allow part-time graduate students to obtain U-Pass cards, who are currently ineligible to receive them. Full-time graduate students can opt-in to the U-Pass program, giving them unlimited Metro rides in exchange for a $100 payment.

“We’re like one big community, and when we get together, we can do great things,” Apostolis said. “So connecting not only our undergrad but our graduate students from different walks of life and different backgrounds I think is essential to making GW a better place.”

Apostolis said he was “immersed” in GW school spirit when Kate Carpenter was vice president, and he worked with her as an ambassador for GW Palooza.

“I saw really the difference that GW Palooza made on school spirit and the overall campus community, and I really wanted to be a part of that,” Apostolis said. “And so when I was running for senate, I ran on a message of including people in our community.”

Apostolis said he wants to require senators to attend three student organization events outside the SA per semester to improve outreach between the SA and students. He said he would attend three student organization events per week as vice president.

“I think that it’s also actually letting students know we’re here, keeping the doors open,” he said.

He said he would make the SA office in the student center more open for students as a place to gather and study. He said he plans to add a green screen to the SA office to allow student organizations to film videos to make the SA more approachable.

“I think that that’s really important, being able to find ways to get people involved, the ways that I can help even if I can’t fix that exact situation,” Apostolis said. “What else can we do? I think not giving up and finding solutions is really a big part of who I am.”

Erika Filter and Ellie Vasko contributed reporting.