Many students are interested in becoming politically involved on campus for many reasons, including to help make a difference in society, to gain experience for a future career, to make like-minded friends or to gain valuable skills.<\/p>\n
The best way to get involved in politics is to see if your college has a chapter of a political party such as the College Democrats, the College Republicans or the Green party, according to Bobby Duncan, president of the College Democrats of Ohio and a Business\/ Engineering student at the University of Cincinnati.<\/p>\n
The political clubs offered at Sinclair Community College are the College Republicans, College Democrats and the Global Action and Awareness Club. Duncan also recommends starting political clubs or volunteering at a local political party. It\u2019s best for students to gain exposure to politics and the political process early on so that they can figure out early on if politics are for them, he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s been a very exciting experience, I\u2019ve got to meet a lot of exciting people. I\u2019ve met President Clinton, I\u2019ve met a lot of national figures,\u201d he said. \u201cYou read about how stuff happens in the news but you don\u2019t really understand until you see how it goes down and you\u2019re involved in the process like talking to legislatures, going door-to-door and talking to voters themselves and finding out what matters to them, not just what the media said matters to them. It\u2019s a good experience when it comes to getting to understanding people.\u201d<\/p>\n
Duncan said that college students can have a huge impact on the political process. He said that if you look at past elections, the political powers have changed based on the percent of young adults who voted. He advocates that college students need to \u201crecognize that they are citizens and need to take part in the system and stand up for these issues. When students don\u2019t get involved, the politicians don\u2019t focus on issues specific to them.\u201d<\/p>\n
One of the important aspects of political involvement, according to Duncan, is that it can teach students about the political process, which helps them understand how our world works.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf it starts with an idea, something that needs to be changed, you have to talk to political or governmental officials, they have to agree to it, you have to propose it and you have to wait for it to pass,\u201d Duncan said.\u00a0 \u201cIt really teaches you how things move along. It just puts everything into perspective, really.\u201d<\/p>\n
Duncan lists some of the skills that he\u2019s gained from college political involvement as learning teamwork, collaboration, public speaking, interpersonal communication and confidence. He said that he was always shy and a \u201cnervous wreck\u201d about political speaking but that being required to speak in-front of groups and to strangers has built up confidence and helped him become \u201cfearless\u201d which he feels is important for any person, regardless of career choice.<\/p>\n
Duncan considers communication to be one of the essential skills that you learn from political involvement. He said that when you have to engage strangers, you learn how to communicate more effectively.<\/p>\n
\u201cPolitics is all about selling ideas to someone, trying to get them to agree with you,\u201d Duncan said.\u00a0 \u201cIn business, you have to propose ideas all the time; you have to defend actions you\u2019ve made. So when it comes to communication and presenting ideas and presenting yourself, it will help anyone. There\u2019s a lot to gain.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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