DePaul’s Student Government Association (SGA) President Gisselle Cervantes announced her resignation from SGA in a letter to the DePaul Community on Tuesday.

In the letter, Cervantes expressed gratitude as she reflected on her experience in SGA.

“I am filled with gratitude for the opportunity and the accomplishments the SGA team has made during my time in the organization,” Cervantes said. “I will always look back on my time in SGA as one that helped me grow and brought me joy and friendship.”

Cervantes cited mental health reasons for her resignation but said the decision was very difficult to make, according to the letter.

“For the past few months, I have been struggling with depression that has progressively worsened,” Cervantes said. “I hope you all know that I put a lot of thought into this decision, and that I care so much about this community and this was a really hard choice to make.”

Cervantes said she finalized her decision to resign on Monday and wanted to inform the student body “as soon as possible.”  

“I took the weekend to reflect, talk to my vice president, and [Monday] after really thinking about it and having some conversations, I decided today [Tuesday] was probably going to be the day to announce [my decision] because I wanted the community to know sooner rather than later,” Cervantes said in an interview with The DePaulia.

Cervantes added the importance of focusing on mental health and resources available to DePaul students, specifically through DePaul’s University Counseling Services.

“I’ve been grateful for UCS,” Cervantes said. “They’ve helped connect me to some good resources.”

Cervantes has been a part of SGA since her freshman year at DePaul serving in several different roles including senator for first-year students as a freshman, executive vice president for diversity and equity her sophomore year and SGA president as a junior. 

In these roles, Cervantes has worked to accomplish several initiatives such as ensuring that naloxone, a drug that reverses the effects of a drug overdose, is available in buildings across both campuses after working with Students for Sensible Drug Policy at DePaul, a student organization.

“If someone is experiencing an overdose, the nasal spray is accessible in every building for folks who are trained to administer that to the person who’s experiencing the overdose,” Cervantes said. “Getting that accomplished was really exciting and it was a really special moment for me.”

Cervantes added that one of her proudest moments during her time with SGA occurred when SGA passed an initiative to provide free menstrual products in every women’s and gender-neutral bathroom across campus.

“That was something that when I ran for SGA president, I was like, ‘I would be so happy if I could get this done because it’s been attempted so many times in the past,’” Cervantes said. “I just think that menstrual products are a necessity that everyone should have access to.”

During her time with SGA, Cervantes said she enjoyed working with groups on campus and connecting with students.

“I really loved the collaboration aspect of SGA like working with other student orgs and working with other offices,” Cervantes said. “That was my favorite part of SGA [as well as] problem solving and really advocating for student needs.”

Alyssa Isberto, SGA’s vice president, will serve as the new president, according to the guidelines in SGA’s Constitution.

“I have full and unwavering confidence in Alyssa Isberto’s ability to take on the presidency,” Cervantes said. “Her kindness, courage, and experience will lead this group to flourish and advocate for students with strength and care.”