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The rising costs of college tuition in America is an issue that has grown in importance in the last decade. There are a few different approaches on how to solve this issue, such as increasing federal and state financial aid, lowering the cost of tuition or making it completely free, and a program called know before you go. Know before you go means that if you know what area of study you want to go into, you can then search colleges that have that major and you can know which colleges are less expensive for what you are looking for you can also see how much money people make with those majors and how many people graduate with job offers. While at the New Hampshire Primary Student Convention, we saw several different candidates who want to tackle the problem of tuition and student debt. Each candidate had slightly different views on the issue, but it was important for them to discuss it because the room was full of students and it is definitely a major issue for us.

Senator Bernie Sanders believes in making college completely debt-free by making it tuition free. He firmly believes that college has become too unaffordable and the system is hindering young people to continue their education due to the costs. This proposal is potentially not politically feasible.

Secretary Hillary Clinton believes that college should be more affordable and that students should not have to borrow money to pay for tuition. She wants students to do their part by working at least 10 hours per week and also states should invest more in higher education.

Senator Marco Rubio Believes in the know before you go theory. Also, he wants it to be more apparent where those people in your potential major are working after college and how much money they are making so you can be more prepared or knowledgeable about your future.

Senator Rand Paul also believes in know before you go because he thinks that free college is simply not feasible in our current economy. Instead of reforming higher education, he wants to reform the process in which students pick their university and area of study.

Governor Kasich believes in reforming high school so that you can earn college credits in high school so you don’t have to stay in college as long. He also is a proponent for getting college credit for gaining knowledge from relevant experience, and vocational training in high school.

All of these candidates recognize that the cost of tuition and student debt are important issues and their different approaches are interesting to think about. Whether or not all the plans are feasible fiscally or politically we’ll have to wait and see, but we do know that accessibility and affordability of college is an issue that won’t go away in 2016. We are excited to see what further proposals are brought up and what policies are passed in the next Presidential cycle that will hopefully help with impending student debt.

Town Hall with Chris Christie.

Our NH Primary Student Convention experience!

#vcufeelsthebern #new hampshire #manchester #politics

Governor Martin O’Malley Skyping in for his town hall

We need a political revolution.

Bernie Sanders, January 4, 2016

We can't be a great country if we keep leaving people behind.

Marco Rubio, January 3, 2016

The war on drugs is more harmful than the drugs themselves.

Drug Reform forum at NH Primary Student Convention, January 4, 2016

Class at the Union Leader Newspaper!

Donald Trump at his rally Lowell, Massachusetts

Service Nation

Today, across the nation people are facing complex challenges such as poverty, food insecurity, and poor quality education. ServiceNation is an organization that strives to help remedy the problems that plague our society and hold us back from reaching our full potential as a nation. Serving the nation and others will always be an aspect that connects the American people and improves the nation. Community service will continue to be important for ages to come as many want to see a thriving country and will surely chip in and do their parts to create the American we want to live in.

Erin Finucane, Managing Director of Movement Building of ServiceNation in the Northeast, presented a presentation at the New Hampshire Student Primary Convention on January 6, 2016. Using large sheets of paper, Finucane conveyed the importance of connecting storytelling with social change. According to the research provided by Finucane and ServiceNation, science tells us that storytelling is an incredible tool as it makes listeners feel invested. Storytelling is important because it helps us articulate our values and to highlight their meaning and importance. The benefits of storytelling are huge because these stories can help build a sense of community and create emotion. The emotions created through hearing a story can be translated into action. At this point in the presentation, I thought that Finucane was doing well in stressing the key impact storytelling could have on a population. I had never considered the contributions a good story could have and how effective it is as a strategy.

Marshall Ganz of Harvard once relayed that, “movements have narratives.” This resonated with me as I thought back to all over the stories I heard that created a rise in me such as the stories of veterans returning home and not having proper care, disenfranchised minorities, and the average joes with incredible success stories. Finucane flipped the page, sprawled across the paper were three steps to creating a successful story. First, the story of self, this element can be thought of as the call to leadership. It is a pivotal moment and sets out to answer the “why” question. The second element of the narrative is the story of us. During this segment, shared values and experiences emerge and are highlighted. The third and final part is the story of now. This is the call to action and imparts a sense of urgency.

Though the group was shown a video of now President Obama endorsing John Kerry for president in 2004, the most fascinating story was presented to us in person at the panel. Finucane allowed for members of the crowd to practice developing their own narratives in groups. When asked for a few volunteer stories, a young man named Chris bravely decided to share. The group learned that Chris was born to absent, drug-addicted parents, constantly transferred schools, and was forced to guide himself on the path to adulthood. Chris made it. He ended up being able to work with children in similar situations and is now able to guide and mentor them. His story was touching and made everyone count their fortunes and ask what they could do to help.

Overall, the ServiceNation panel was helpful as it made me consider how incredible of a tool storytelling is. It will be interesting to see how candidates spin their own personal narratives during this campaign season. I strongly believe that the stories they present the American public with will rally people and that is what is important.

Service Learning

During one of the days I spent in New Hampshire, I had the opportunity to volunteer with the Martin O’Malley for President campaign in Manchester, New Hampshire. I made phone calls to voters in the Manchester area and talked to them to find out whom they were voting for, if they were leaning towards O’Malley in the primaries, and if they were undecided I tried to pivot the conversation to what their biggest issue is this election cycle and how O’Malley will address it. I have phone banked before, so I knew what to expect, but I thoroughly enjoyed this experience. For the most part, I did not talk to many of the people that I called – which is normal – but the people I did talk to were very receptive to my message. I talked to one undecided voter and after giving him information on O’Malley’s values, political history, and goals, he decided that he was going to vote for him. It is an extremely good feeling when someone decides to sway to the candidate you are advocating for because it makes it seem like what you are doing actually means something in the election.

Earlier that week, I went to the Manchester office for Hillary Clinton and it was a slightly different experience than that of O’Malley’s. The office was a little more decorated with campaign signs and handmade motivational posters and there were several volunteers participating in the phone bank. When we first got to the office, Bill Clinton was on speakerphone talking to the entire office and it was definitely not what I had expected. To hear a former president talk on the phone to volunteers in a casual manner really made me think about how real retail politics is in the state of New Hampshire. When physically making the calls, I got about the same amount of voter contact, but the people I did talk to were definite Hillary Clinton supporters. Hillary’s office looked a little more established, like it had been there longer and the workers/volunteers had more time setting up and getting ready for this Presidential primary.

I knew that making calls for O’Malley would be a little harder than for Hillary because he is less well known and he does not have as big of a presence in New Hampshire. Some of the people I talked to were strong Hillary supporters and it was to be expected because of how popular she is in New Hampshire, but I did not want to let it discourage me. Running a campaign for a smaller candidate must be difficult, but I could see that the people working in the Manchester for O’Malley office had the same determination that I saw in the Hillary office and they wanted to win just as badly. It was a good experience to go to two different campaign offices that are fighting for the same win and to see the differences and similarities between the two. The targeted voters are very similar between Clinton and O’Malley, but the slight differences in strategies and approaches is what interested me the most.

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