Year: Sophomore
Hometown: Santiago, Dominican Republic
Major: Economics and international affairs
Student organizations/activities: Latinx Heritage Celebration Committee for 2021, ambassador in International Students Ambassador Cohort in the Undergraduate Admissions Office, Dean’s Council in the Undergraduate Admissions Office
SA experience: CCAS undergraduate student life committee, diversity and inclusion assembly and special committee on financial reform and operations
Favorite restaurant in the District: Los Hermanos or on GWorld, Sol
Favorite show from your childhood: Phineas & Ferb
Favorite GW Tradition: Annual bonfire in U-Yard, especially making s’mores
Role model: Dominican Republic Congressman Omar Fernandez
Ideal GW Mascot: Hippo
Proudest GW moment: Working at Commencement and watching Elizabeth Warren and Dr. Fauci speak
Dream Job: Work in analyzing economics of developing countries and working in international organizations focused in Latin America and Africa
Something you cannot live without: Friends and family

Alfredo Granados knew he would launch his bid for Student Association vice president after feeling a sense pride in the GW community while working at the bicentennial celebration in the fall.

Granados said he appreciated the sense of community students exhibited during the weekend-long event, which encouraged him to become more involved at GW as an SA senator. Granados said his status as an international student from the Dominican Republic led him to establish the International Students Cohort to connect prospective international students with current students through the admissions office.

“It’s a joint effort to fight for the GW we love,” Granados said. “I think it’s my duty to help as much as I can, to build that same experience that I am having right now.”

Granados said he was compelled to run for vice president after a member of a student organization told him the SA only reached out to that organization once this academic year. He said he felt “guilty” that the connection between the SA and the GW community was not made in previous years and would push to change that as vice president.

Granados said he will create a student engagement advisory group that will connect students with the SA. He said creating the advisory group will solve the “lack of communication” between the SA and the student body promotes transparency and faith because it will build relationships between the two groups.

Granados said he will work with the SA Senate’s finance committee to advocate for a more equitable distribution of funds to student organizations than the existing system.

Granados said he will also address accessibility issues on campus like fixing handicap buttons for doors and adding ramps to buildings that currently do not have any. He said he will also bring back the SA’s yearly accessibility report, which was last released in February 2020.

The 2020 report outlined 68 areas like classrooms and ramps on campus that did not comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 and the Rehabilitation Act of 1973.

He said he will evaluate the tap access system with third-party contractors to increase security and make students feel safer on campus. Students and security guards were hired to monitor residence hall entry points across campus earlier this academic year.

“I’m focused on the best first for the student body and general interest,” Granados said. “That’s my main goal, and that’s what I feel.”