On one of the busiest weekends of the academic year — known to Northern Michigan University students as Wildcat Weekend — a dedicated bunch of Wildcats joined AAUW and Running Start at the Elect Her–NMU Women Win training. Ranging widely in both in age and political experience, these students were eager to develop their leadership and campaigning skills in preparation for the upcoming student government elections in April.
Throughout the day, we had the privilege of hearing from a number of impressive speakers. Marquette County Circuit Judge Jennifer Mazzuchi discussed her experience campaigning for her current position and encouraged NMU students to have faith in their experience when considering a campaign and to, first and foremost, be honest and genuine in their encounters with potential voters.
Wayne State University law professor Jocelyn Benson, who recently ran for Michigan secretary of state, recounted her path to politics and her experiences campaigning. Having run for her first elected position while she was still in college, Benson encouraged students to get involved in politics, take an interest in their communities and the issues that affect them, and to stand by the courage of their convictions when faced with discouraging obstacles.
NMU Director of Marketing and Communications Anne Stark gave students excellent insight into the importance of messaging and covered some useful tactics for how best to use social media to help deliver their messages to students and potential voters.
One highlight of the day was hearing from Associated Students of Northern Michigan University (ASNMU) speaker Courtney Russell, who talked about her experience running for a student government position. Not only is Russell the current ASNMU president, but she is also an Elect Her alumna! She shared a unique perspective on what it’s like to run for an executive position in student government as a woman, how her experience with Elect Her prepared her for her campaign, and which strategies she successfully utilized to win her seat.
We wrapped up the day with our campaign simulation. Several students got creative in their strategies, employing several of the volunteers present at the training as campaign staff. In the end, Sarah Eberhard won the day with 45 votes, thanks to her strategy of targeting the busiest areas on campus and tapping Kathy Davis of the AAUW Marquette (MI) Branch as her campaign manager.
After an intense day of wonderful speakers and skill-building exercises, students left the training armed with the tools, inspiration, and confidence to take on their campus and community and energized to start their campaigns.
This post was written by Running Start Program Director Allison Dunatchik.
AAUW Dialog 
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