ST. MARY’S CITY, Md. (Oct. 3, 2009) — Last Saturday, politically-charged members of the St. Mary’s College of Maryland (SMCM) community learned to lobby their elected officials. More than 20 students, faculty, and staff participated in a Center for the Study of Democracy-sponsored workshop designed to train political activists to successfully achieve their goals and communicate their messages to community leaders, elected officials, and other influential people and organizations. Participants listened to lectures and worked in small groups to role play meetings and events in an effort to prepare them for real-world political planning.
“The Center tries to provide students with opportunities to learn more about civic issues and to be more engaged citizens,” said Michael Cain, director of the Center for the Study of Democracy. “This was one of the many opportunities the Center provides students to reach out to their communities and government.”
"The workshop gave me a good idea of how to practically use grassroots organizing to harness and build citizens' power and effect positive changes in areas like social justice and sustainable initiatives," said sustainability fellow Shane Hall ’09.
Provost Larry Vote, acting president at SMCM, commented, “This workshop is one of the ways the Center tires to promote civic engagement and get students thinking about how they can make a difference….Social responsibility, participatory citizenship and civic duties, these are commitments we take seriously here at St. Mary’s College.”