As College Park City Councilmembers said goodbye to their University of Maryland (UMD) student liaisons, their replacements started their year-long terms.

Rising sophomore Emma Martin and rising junior Sami Saeed replaced student liaison Nick DiSpirito, who graduated, and deputy liaison Amira Abujuma, a rising senior.

DiSpirito said Martin and Saeed, whose terms began in June, have a drive to continue the work he and Abujuma started and bring a fresh perspective to the positions.

“They both bring kind of a combination of a lot of experience,” DiSpirito said, “certainly more than I had when I was their age.”

The student liaison and deputy liaison serve one-year terms that begin every spring. These representatives may not vote on city business, but they participate in weekly council meetings. They also conduct research for council discussions and find experts on various issues to speak to the council.

A government and politics major, Martin spent the past year as co-director of the Student Government Association’s (SGA) transportation and infrastructure committee.

Martin said she wanted to be a liaison because of the student concerns she heard during her work with the SGA.

“I hear a lot of things from a lot of different students,” Martin said. “When you’re dealing with transportation and infrastructure, it’s things like rent and sidewalks and some of those things that you can’t fix when you’re just working with the administration.”

She said the SGA approved her for the position after she applied and sat for interviews with College Park Mayor Fazlul Kabir, two city councilmembers and the SGA.

Martin’s deputy, Saeed, cited his previous experience as a high school student member of the Montgomery County Board of Education and as an intern in the Maryland General Assembly and in Congress.

“I … have the experience of policy research, which I want to bring to this role,” said Saeed, a public policy major who frequently testifies on behalf of UMD students at city council meetings.

Martin and Saeed said they plan to focus on housing affordability and rent stabilization.

In addition, Saeed, who went to high school with DiSpirito, said he wants the city to create its own police force, an idea backed by Kabir.

Martin said she wants to look into expanding the size of bike lanes in the city.

“I think the bike lanes on Route 1 are too close to the road,” Martin said. “I wouldn’t want to take my bike on that with all the cars.”

Both liaisons said they are anticipating an adjustment period.

“I think just at least at first, figuring out how everything works, like who is best to work with on certain issues, just like figuring out the council itself,” Martin said.

Saeed said he wants to make good use of the limited time he will have as deputy liaison.

“It’s only a year,” Saeed said. “So obviously that’s already a limitation. You can’t try and pursue three to four different things at the same time. There’s only so many council meetings.”

Both liaisons said they want to represent UMD students. They said they will do that, in part, through Instagram.

Kabir said the council and SGA considered four applicants for the liaison position, calling them all “very skilled,” but saying he was impressed with Martin from her work with the SGA.

“She has passion,” Kabir said. “She really wants to make things happen.”