The following student report was submitted by Ambassador League Agent Natalie W. during the 2008-2009 League.
Mission: Take Action - Volunteering for a Political Campaign
I campaigned for Tim Fair, who was running for county commissioner in Clinton County, District six. I know Mr. Fair through a friend. He was a very qualified candidate who is very involved in the community.
My campaigning for him consisted of walking door-to-door and talking to people about his ideas for the economy, what he planned to do, and encouraging them to get out and vote. At first I was really nervous to go up to random persons' door and start talking to them. It actually ended up being a really good experience. Campaigning makes you more outgoing and you learn more about the candidates, because you are telling people about them. It makes you really think about who you are campaigning for and why because some of the people ask hard questions. It also shows how fast you can actually run when you are trying to escape from scary big dogs named Farfal.
I also helped with putting together literature packets (that had information on Tim and his ideas) that we would give to people when going door-to-door. A bunch of my friends and I sat around a table sticking little papers that said "Vote November 4th" onto a brochure. We finished about 1,800 of those little buggers in only an hour and a half. Mr. Fait was quite impressed. On another occasion, called "Judgement Day" I ran from house to house dropping off literature in doors. It was the day before the election, and was a last chance effort to remind people to get out and vote, hopefully for Tim. Judgement Day was on November 3rd and many candidates are out that day trying to rake in as many last minute votes as possible.
I didn't always want to go and campaign, but I am glad I did. I realized that I can have an impact on who gets elected and what goes on around me. It probably wasn't the best thing I have ever done, but it was rewarding. Especially when Tim bought all of us campaigners Krispy Kreme doughnuts. YUM! Even if Mr. Fair would not have bought us doughnuts, I am still glad I did it. It was amazing how excited he got when we were all helping. He was so grateful and appreciative. He always says "Giddyup" when he is excited and I think he said it about a hundred times when I was campaigning with him, so that is a good sign.
