During my junior year I served as the Organizing Coordinator for the ASUW Office of Government Relations. I recruited, trained, and managed volunteers for two voter registration drives and several OGR programs, such as the Legislative Reception and Huskies on the Hill Lobby Day. I advocated on behalf of students for higher education funding and increased voter accessibility. My work with voter registration also led to The Engage UW Project, where I formed a committee tasked with identifying and eliminating institutional barriers to registering new voters at UW.
Significance
Young people have voices too. UW students have a voice when it comes to what happens at our university, we just have to take advantage of it. When recruiting new volunteers I often told the story about how I was the student speaker at Lobby Day during my sophomore year. I had no experience with lobbying whatsoever before that day, but I was pushed to speak up and make a difference. I then realized my own personal agency, and have been deeply involved ever since. As an organizer I wanted my peers to understand that they can effect positive change, all they have to do is step up and make the effort. Their voice and their vote matters, and I worked to spread that message.
Tasks Accomplished
I began the year with the annual voter registration drive. I was mentored by the Campus Coordinator for the Washington Bus, a non-profit that promotes the civic engagement of young people. We crafted a plan that targeted high-traffic spaces (such as the residence halls) as well as major campus events (like the annual Fall Fling concert) to canvas. We defined our metrics for success, and ultimately registered nearly 500 new voters at UW. I also helped the OGR Legislative Programming Coordinator recruit volunteers to attend events put on by the office, such as the Legislative Reception or Huskies on the Hill Lobby Day. Throughout the year I held weekly volunteer meetings to keep our volunteers engaged and informed. During the legislative session I wrote testimony in favor of a bill that would have increased voter accessibility by extending certain registration deadlines. And, lastly, I started The Engage UW Project and helped to initiate the UW Vote Summit.
Competencies
First and foremost, working for OGR allowed me to enhance my skills in advocating for a point of view. I fought for my fellow students through legislative advocacy, lobbying legislators for more higher education funding and reforms to the voter registration timeline that would make registering new voters on college campuses much easier. Through conversations with students from across campus, I developed a strong sense of what they wanted. I understood the need for increased accessibility both on and off campus, advocating on behalf of students on issues such as public transportation service and higher education funding.
My work also entailed social justice. For example, OGR lobbied the state legislature to pass a version of the DREAM Act, which would have allowed undocumented students to receive federal financial aid. We also argued that the divestment from higher education over the past several decades was contributing to the marginalization of socioeconomically vulnerable college students. A specific example of this would be how differential tuition, if not banned, could lead to students from low-income backgrounds being unable to pursue STEM degrees.
Resiliency was a key aspect of my voter registration efforts. A mentor of mine once told me that, when it comes to registering new voters, "you will get one yes for every four people that say no." Stopping strangers in their tracks to convince them that democracy is not dead yet is challenging, to say the least. People will turn you down much more often that they agree to register to vote. At the end of the day, however, you need to focus on the goal at hand and push through. Perspective is important.
The logical conclusion to these efforts was follow-through. Despite setbacks (such as the cancellation of an event we were to canvas) we stuck to the game plan and ended up registering nearly 500 new voters. While we certainly would have liked to be even more successful, completing such a large project is a great achievement in and of itself.
Working for OGR also allowed me to develop and pursue my own vision. While organizing our first voter registration drive, I struggled to gain meaningful access to important spaces such as the residence halls. I watched enviously while Western Washington University registered their students while they waited in line to receive their new students IDs. I realized that there were institutional barriers to voter registration at UW, but struggled to figure out a definitive solution. My ideas coalesced as The Engage UW Project, a collaborative and innovative effort to improve voter registration at UW.
My vision for this endeavor pushed me to take initiative. After several unproductive meetings with relevant administrators, I started The Engage UW Project in order to build more meaningful connections across campus. I recruited a dedicated group of volunteers to sit on The Engage UW Committee, and they worked to develop these kinds of relationships.
The Engage UW Project served as a vehicle for empowerment of my peers. Each committee member served as a liaison to a particular "area" of campus, such as the UW Administration or the residence halls. Delegating responsibility allowed the committee members to have a real stake in the process, and elevated them above that status of just another volunteer. Ownership over their own work was both motivating and rewarding for them.
Engage UW also led to significant collaboration. Our values were shared by many other students, and we joined The UW Vote Summit in order to further our efforts. We partnered with other student advocacy and political organizations to craft a unified message and leverage each other's resources.
Lessons Learned
Personal agency matters. In this position I learned that my own unique perspective, experiences, and privilege could be transformed into something productive. I could effect positive and meaningful change with the right motivation and support. This is true on both a personal and institutional level. On a personal level, I sparked a conversation on the effectiveness of voter registration efforts at UW. On an institutional level OGR helped get the REAL Hope Act passed, making federal financial aid available to undocumented students. My aforementioned mentor once told me that young people do not vote because of accessibility, not apathy. If given the chance, young people can be just as engaged and active as anyone. This position pushed me to develop my own sense of agency, as well as recognize and leverage the agency of those around me.
Significance
Young people have voices too. UW students have a voice when it comes to what happens at our university, we just have to take advantage of it. When recruiting new volunteers I often told the story about how I was the student speaker at Lobby Day during my sophomore year. I had no experience with lobbying whatsoever before that day, but I was pushed to speak up and make a difference. I then realized my own personal agency, and have been deeply involved ever since. As an organizer I wanted my peers to understand that they can effect positive change, all they have to do is step up and make the effort. Their voice and their vote matters, and I worked to spread that message.
Tasks Accomplished
I began the year with the annual voter registration drive. I was mentored by the Campus Coordinator for the Washington Bus, a non-profit that promotes the civic engagement of young people. We crafted a plan that targeted high-traffic spaces (such as the residence halls) as well as major campus events (like the annual Fall Fling concert) to canvas. We defined our metrics for success, and ultimately registered nearly 500 new voters at UW. I also helped the OGR Legislative Programming Coordinator recruit volunteers to attend events put on by the office, such as the Legislative Reception or Huskies on the Hill Lobby Day. Throughout the year I held weekly volunteer meetings to keep our volunteers engaged and informed. During the legislative session I wrote testimony in favor of a bill that would have increased voter accessibility by extending certain registration deadlines. And, lastly, I started The Engage UW Project and helped to initiate the UW Vote Summit.
Competencies
First and foremost, working for OGR allowed me to enhance my skills in advocating for a point of view. I fought for my fellow students through legislative advocacy, lobbying legislators for more higher education funding and reforms to the voter registration timeline that would make registering new voters on college campuses much easier. Through conversations with students from across campus, I developed a strong sense of what they wanted. I understood the need for increased accessibility both on and off campus, advocating on behalf of students on issues such as public transportation service and higher education funding.
My work also entailed social justice. For example, OGR lobbied the state legislature to pass a version of the DREAM Act, which would have allowed undocumented students to receive federal financial aid. We also argued that the divestment from higher education over the past several decades was contributing to the marginalization of socioeconomically vulnerable college students. A specific example of this would be how differential tuition, if not banned, could lead to students from low-income backgrounds being unable to pursue STEM degrees.
Resiliency was a key aspect of my voter registration efforts. A mentor of mine once told me that, when it comes to registering new voters, "you will get one yes for every four people that say no." Stopping strangers in their tracks to convince them that democracy is not dead yet is challenging, to say the least. People will turn you down much more often that they agree to register to vote. At the end of the day, however, you need to focus on the goal at hand and push through. Perspective is important.
The logical conclusion to these efforts was follow-through. Despite setbacks (such as the cancellation of an event we were to canvas) we stuck to the game plan and ended up registering nearly 500 new voters. While we certainly would have liked to be even more successful, completing such a large project is a great achievement in and of itself.
Working for OGR also allowed me to develop and pursue my own vision. While organizing our first voter registration drive, I struggled to gain meaningful access to important spaces such as the residence halls. I watched enviously while Western Washington University registered their students while they waited in line to receive their new students IDs. I realized that there were institutional barriers to voter registration at UW, but struggled to figure out a definitive solution. My ideas coalesced as The Engage UW Project, a collaborative and innovative effort to improve voter registration at UW.
My vision for this endeavor pushed me to take initiative. After several unproductive meetings with relevant administrators, I started The Engage UW Project in order to build more meaningful connections across campus. I recruited a dedicated group of volunteers to sit on The Engage UW Committee, and they worked to develop these kinds of relationships.
The Engage UW Project served as a vehicle for empowerment of my peers. Each committee member served as a liaison to a particular "area" of campus, such as the UW Administration or the residence halls. Delegating responsibility allowed the committee members to have a real stake in the process, and elevated them above that status of just another volunteer. Ownership over their own work was both motivating and rewarding for them.
Engage UW also led to significant collaboration. Our values were shared by many other students, and we joined The UW Vote Summit in order to further our efforts. We partnered with other student advocacy and political organizations to craft a unified message and leverage each other's resources.
Lessons Learned
Personal agency matters. In this position I learned that my own unique perspective, experiences, and privilege could be transformed into something productive. I could effect positive and meaningful change with the right motivation and support. This is true on both a personal and institutional level. On a personal level, I sparked a conversation on the effectiveness of voter registration efforts at UW. On an institutional level OGR helped get the REAL Hope Act passed, making federal financial aid available to undocumented students. My aforementioned mentor once told me that young people do not vote because of accessibility, not apathy. If given the chance, young people can be just as engaged and active as anyone. This position pushed me to develop my own sense of agency, as well as recognize and leverage the agency of those around me.