The Importance of Running for Student Government

Running for student government allows for many advantages of experience, outside of college and into the job force as well. The experience teaches you how to manage people, how to represent classmates and incorporate different opinions. I believe that the survey of the 'Members in Congress Student Government Project' has been very informative, because we, as students, can see the benefits of running during school, and the results it can lead to later in life.
Personally, I ran for Student Senate and loved every minute of it. There were 20 freshmen running for the five Freshman Senate seats, it was the most competitive race of the student body election for 2008. Making posters, meeting other freshman, and campaigning were invigorating. Creating an agenda based on what people needed strengthened my skills of communication and leadership among my class. Unfortunately I didn't win a seat, yet that did not deter me from preparing to run next election cycle. The event in itself, of getting your name out to the public and learning how best to present yourself are invaluable lessons as well. The results of the project will be very interesting and my experience so far at the Women & Politics Institute has been one of the highlights of my first semester here at AU.

-Rachel Velasquez