Elect Her facilitator Rebecca Thompson discusses the current state of women in U.S. politics with students at Wright State University.
Last weekend, young women (and men) from Wright State University in Dayton, OH spent the day learning about the ins and outs of running for student government with the help of Elect Her, a joint program of Running Start and AAUW. Held in conjunction with the Omicron Delta Kappa (ODK) Leader 2 Leader Conference, participants heard from elected officials and national experts on the importance of running for office and the need for young women to pursue leadership roles in their communities. As a former student body president at Northern Michigan University (NMU), I was so excited to facilitate this training. When I ran in 2004, I had no idea how to run a campaign and programs like Elect Her didn’t even exist yet.
After kicking off the training with introductions and elevator speeches, we began the day with an exercise focused on choosing an issue. Participants had the opportunity to reflect on both local and national issues that recently inspired them to take action. From tuition hikes on campus to the elimination of funding for Planned Parenthood, students spoke about issues that impacted them and solutions to address those issues. They also had the opportunity to practice more elevator speeches and learn about the art of networking. As over 90% of the participants were currently serving as leaders of campus organizations, many of them were already networking everyday and expressed an interest in sharpening the skill.
Attendees also heard from current Montgomery County Treasurer Carolyn Rice who spoke passionately about her experiences as an elected official. Inspired to get involved in politics after the 2004 presidential election, Rice discussed how grassroots work in her community gave her the confidence to run for State Representative just a few years before. Despite being unsuccessful, she described the campaign as one of the best experiences of her life. One of the highlights of the day included hearing her talk about the importance of finding your passion and how proud she was to be able to make progressive change as the Montgomery County Treasurer.
Participants spent the remainder of the day learning about developing a message, building a campaign team, and actually practicing a campaign simulation. After the training was over, I spoke with a number of attendees about their thoughts about the training. Hearing them describe how much they learned from the session and how they were inspired to run for student government and to take on other leadership roles only reinforced what I already knew; we must ensure that Elect Her makes its way to every campus across the country.
This post was written by United Way for Southeastern Michigan Senior Director for Engagement Rebecca Thompson.
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