In a room of elected officials and long agendas, it’s the lone student at the dais who represents the majority of people affected by each decision. She sits through hours of deliberations to keep student perspectives from becoming an afterthought. Her role: a reminder that shared governance only works when students are part of the conversation. Her commitment: ensuring students aren’t forgotten in decisions
Her name: Ariel Fridman.
As Palomar’s student trustee, Fridman carries an advisory vote — non-binding but powerful. It may not decide outcomes, but it gives students a rare voice in
the room.
Fridman’s role gives her a platform to urge trustees to factor in student perspectives when they vote because, while most of the trustees don’t feel the impact of their votes, as a student, she does.
No one knows this better than her predecessor, former Student Trustee Reagan Barnum.
“In the climate that the Governing Board is currently in, I was concerned when we had little interest in the Student Trustee position for this term. Ariel bravely stepped up and was willing to run and I’ve mentored her since,” Barnum said. “Ariel is a strong voice, extremely educated and involved within Palomar. All qualities that are essential in a successful Student Trustee.”
Ariel Fridman began her term as Student Trustee in June, stepping into a pivotal year for Palomar College’s governance and quickly making her presence known, advocating for transparency and stronger communication between students and campus leadership.
“One of my main goals is to try and help broadcast issues and things that are happening to students,” Fridman said. “I definitely want to see more connectivity between what’s happening at the board and the students on campus, because it really impacts everything that
we do.”
For Fridman, that goal starts with understanding not only what the board is doing, but how it
gets done.
“It’s really interesting going to the board meetings and seeing, “Oh, this is happening but this is the process that it takes’,” Fridman said. “All these things that are happening that nobody really knows about, no one talks about.”
That means a lot of listening before she enters the room.
When BP 3000, the board’s anti-racism and equity policy, came up, she went to classmates and student government to ask how it would affect them.
“I try and keep student government in the loop. I try and talk to my peers … And I try and get as many opinions as I can, and then sort of be able to bring that to the governing board when I get there,” Fridman said.
For her former economics professor, Barbara Baer, an adjunct faculty member and Palomar Faculty Federation executive board member, none of this came as a surprise.
Baer said when she learned Fridman was elected at student trustee she knew Fridman would succeed because of her drive and her interest in economics.
“To have a student who has a real interest in the subject matter sit on the board, tells me that she’s not going to just let things go by,” Baer said. “When I realized she was going in that direction, I thought to myself, ‘Yes, she is who I thought she was.’ ”
Fridman’s instinct to advocate goes back to her childhood as the daughter of a serviceman.
“I’ve been part of a military family since I was born. I’m a Navy brat,” Fridman said.
Growing up in a Navy family shaped her sense that quiet work still matters, especially when it’s done for others.
From working with Associated Student Government, to president of the Transfer Student association, to being part of TRIO and Palomar Promise, to being just a student majoring in data science and statistics, minoring in business, and working toward an associate degree in 3D modeling and design, Fridman is a part of a wider campus community.
“I’m all over campus,” Fridman said. “I talk to all kinds of people, and I think it’s really cool to be able to represent those people and bring all those voices to the governing board.”
Baer noted that kind of presence can be easy to underestimate at first glance.
“She’s very quiet and polite, and I think she surprises people with her strength, because they mistake that for not having strong opinions, and that’s not true,” Baer said.
Support from faculty like Baer has been key to Fridman’s Palomar journey.
“Across all my classes, all the professors, they’ve all been so kind and really helped me with my understanding,” Fridman said. “I think it’s the faculty. They’re so dedicated. I wouldn’t have done any of this if they weren’t here.”
Baer, who has watched more than a decade of student trustees come and go, said Fridman stands out.
“They are all to a one amazing because they have to vote first, and they’re strong and so forth. But Ariel is up there in the top. She’s among the top of the ones I’ve seen,” Baer said.
Through the meetings, the votes, the late nights balancing classes and governance, Fridman returns to a simple idea: students shouldn’t be afraid to speak up.
“Never be afraid to ask questions, even if you feel like you should know things already,” Fridman said. “Never be afraid, because there’s always going to be someone in the audience or someone else who’s just as confused as you are.”