By: Roy Thorson, President of Pointers Vote Coalition
My first year of college came during the fall of 2020, in the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. Being engaged with classes and organizations was difficult enough through a computer screen, but in-person engagement was essentially impossible.
Therefore, when the opportunity came for me to get involved on my campus by supporting student voting, I was thrilled to take the opportunity. Throughout the last three and a half years, I have made a positive impact on my campus and gotten to know many new people while doing it. Today, I would like to share my success and share some tips on how to get involved.
Success Tip #1-Take the Opportunity
In the spring semester of 2021, I was approached with the opportunity to become an intern on campus to support student voting. All the successes that I am going to tell you about happened because I said yes to this opportunity. At first, this may seem like a weird opportunity to accept. At the time, I was a business student, with no other qualifications other than being interested in supporting student voices. However, these qualifications proved to be everything I needed. During my time as a student voting intern, I have:
- Created a student voting coalition on campus.
- Made a campuswide canvas page to support student voting.
- Hosted events with national and state-level policymakers.
- Interacted with 1,000+ students.
- Discussed voter registration with hundreds of students.
- Grown personally and professionally.
My first tip to you is to say yes to an opportunity. It doesn’t have to be an internship. It could be joining a club, going out with friends, joining a study group, or a multitude of other opportunities.
Success Tip #2-Shoot for the Stars
Success does not happen for those who sit by and wait, so don’t do that. Instead, shoot for the stars. If your goal is to join a new student organization, try joining three. If your goal is to apply for an internship, try searching for five more. The successes described above did not happen because I tried to achieve these goals. They happened because I tried to achieve so much more.
We often sell ourselves short on our capacity to achieve change or try new things because we set our goals too low. Don’t get me wrong, your goals should be reasonable, but they can also be a bit ambitious. Having ambitious goals means that even if you don’t achieve everything, you will still achieve great things.
Whatever you are thinking of doing, do just a bit more and see where it takes you!
Success Tip #3-Find Someone to Do It With
At this point, I would like to take a moment to acknowledge that I have not done this work alone. I have made partnerships and relationships with a variety of different interns, student organizations, national organizations, students, professors, members of upper administration, and more. While there is no doubt these people have helped me along my way to success, they have also made my success more fulfilling.
Some things may be able to be achieved on your own, but these achievements will not feel as rewarding if you don’t find someone to work with. This person may be someone you have never met. In fact, they probably will be. There are no rules or guidelines on how to find these people or who these people are, but you need to find someone.
Together you can grow as people, students, and professionals. You can help each other to accomplish bigger things than you could accomplish alone. After all, group efforts accomplish more than the sum of what the group members could accomplish alone.
Opportunities
I don’t know what interests you or what type of involvement you are looking for. However, I wanted to take the opportunity to provide you with a few resources to get involved with groups that I am a part of. I have included some links below to various groups that you can join. Some are on the UW-Stevens Point campus, while others are nationwide groups. Whatever group you may join, I hope you find your involvement during your time in college as fulfilling as I have.
The Student Voting Network is a collaborative group of students nationwide that meets on the third Wednesday of every month. These students are interested in voting, democracy, and engagement. Additionally, this network is a great way to grow personally and professionally as you meet new people, attend trainings, and discover new opportunities.
This organization is specific to the UW-Stevens Point campus. This is a great opportunity to get involved with other students who are interested in democracy and promoting students’ voices. There may even be an opportunity to get involved with an internship surrounding voting.
Campus Vote Project is a portion of the Fair Elections Center. They advocate for nonpartisan student voting across the nation by employing staff and interns to promote student voting. This is a great opportunity for internships, engagement, and maybe even future employment.
