On the prairie of the University of Illinois Springfield, there are stars working their way toward success every day. This week, the UIS President of Student Government Association (SGA) Aislinn Diaz is in the spotlight. Hailing from the Brighton Park neighborhood on the south side of Chicago, this junior UIS student has made it her goal to hold several leadership roles during her studies. Aislinn is a first generation Latinx college student who first decided to attend UIS because it gave her the opportunity to experience life outside of Chicago and establish an independence for herself, stating, “being in the capital and having the opportunity to create real change was of high importance to me.”

Diaz is currently double-majoring in political science and public policy with a minor in global studies. If you think that is a hectic workload, she has also been active in many on-campus organizations during her time at UIS. Diaz was the Senator-at-Large of SGA during her sophomore year, where she held the UIS United Rally in conjunction with a town hall to address the racially insensitive actions of two staff members at ​​UIS. Aislinn currently serves as the SGA President and works directly with the UIS administration to ensure students have representation in the creation of COVID-19 policies, along with many other issues. She is also the current president of the Tri Sigma Theta Lambda chapter here as well as president of College Democrats. Aislinn has been an active member of the Model Illinois Government and was just recently elected to be the president of the Senate this last simulation.

Aislinn currently works at the Diversity Center for the LatinX/Hispanic Initiative. There, she works on creating programming tailored to Latinx and Hispanic students to ensure their representation on the UIS campus. She also recently began working at the Illinois State Capitol in the House of Representatives as a committee clerk, where she is responsible for helping the committee chair take roll calls of committee members and writing down if the bills passed or failed in the committee.

After attaining her bachelor’s degrees, Aislinn hopes to be accepted to the ILSP program and then go on to receive her master’s in public policy. After that, she would like to work as a staff member for a senator or representative of her hometown Chicago, with the hope of one day running to represent her district. If there is anything to be learned here at UIS, it is that if you have the willpower to pursue your dreams, anything can be made a reality. With big aspirations and a whole lot of energy to succeed, the stars are shining bright on prairie star Aislinn Diaz.