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An Exciting Week

November 07, 2008

This has been an exciting week. I wasn’t particularly a fan of President Obama in his campaign, nonetheless I did get out last week and see him at the only rally he’s held thus far with former President Clinton. I figured he was going to get elected and might as well attend a campaign rally and be part of this historic event.

It was a well attended event and there were more chants of “Si se puede” than “Yes we can,” representative of the large Puerto Rican population in Kissimmee, host town of the rally about an hour away from Rollins. Let me reiterate that I was not a big fan of him until I saw him in person. His image is powerful, plus the fact that he was side by side former President Clinton made his presence even more presidential 6 days before he would be elected. With a spirit of camaraderie and intolerance in the crowd (one girl chanted Palin 2012 and immediately all eyes gave a piercing stare), it was what I expected and what we call in Venezuela un mitín (transliterated from the English word ‘meeting’ meaning a candidate’s rally).

I consider myself to be an economic conservative but a social liberal and seeing such excitement on campus to hit the polls on November 4th was inspiring in the way you wouldn’t think of naturally. I was not inspired by this ‘democracy at play’ but rather the fact that our generation defeats the stereotypes of the ‘young,’ most often the apathetic young—the youth that does not care about the political process, the outcome, nor the policymakers that shape our future. Our generation voted 2 to 1 in favor of the democratic candidate, more inclined than any other age or gender group for that matter.

Through taking advantage of all the virtual media including the social networking sites, advertisement on websites quadruple his opponent, and the only candidate to address college affordability, President Obama has energized the youth and made them part of this process we call democracy. On the night of the election, there was a group of Rollins students that organized an after-poll party on Mills lawn with food, sparklers, candidate lookalikes, and a huge screen for the students to follow the results as they came in live. They called themselves WTF Rollins (We Tackle the Future at Rollins) and it was made up of different campus organizations, including both College Republicans and College Democrats. I was receiving some really strained energy while at the party because it was so tense every time a state would be called. No matter which way the state went, there were simultaneous cheers and tears.

Now while the elections were going on this week, I had the chance and privilege to attend two receptions for high school juniors and seniors interested in Rollins. Over the weekend I was up in Boston with Admissions Counselor Matt Moore for the Boston reception accompanied by Director of Explorations Doug Little and Professor of Hispanic Literature Dr. Gabriel Barreneche. It was the first time ever for me to be up north during the fall, and to see trees in shades of orange, red, and yellow was a completely new experience for me. We had the largest reception Rollins has seen so far and then midweek I went to an equally interesting reception in Tampa with Admissions Counselors Andrea Williamson and Yvette Kojic accompanied by Dean Wellman and another Rollins student, Jenn Shea. It was so interesting to meet potential Rollins ’13 and ’14 and one of the best experiences so far this semester. The best part about being on a panel at these receptions is the relief that I’m through with the college admissions process—at least for now. I’m nearing mid sophomore year and I’m not too far away from thinking about my post-Rollins life.

Photo 1: Then candidate Obama with former President Clinton at a rally in Kissimmee, FL on Wednesday Oct. 29.
Photo 2 + 3: View of Boston's North End from my hotel room.

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