Among the many volunteers helping the Republican National Committee stage the nominating convention are some students from Ohio Northern University.
I ran into Shelby Core, of Wapakoneta, Anna Hoard, of Kalamazoo, Mich., and John Williamowski Jr. of Lima, all 19, who are part of a political science program under professor Dr. Robert Alexander. The three have been helping with the logistics of the Ohio delegation.
A lot of their work is far removed from any appearance of glamor. They help direct delegates to their next event, even take bags to their rooms in the Mainsail Suites hotel. They greeted delegates arriving at the Tampa airport.
On the bus trip to the convention hall Wednesday night, Shelby Core handled the microphone to tell the delegates how to find their buses in the confusion that would likely follow at the end of the night.
"We ran around and did whatever needed to be done," Core said.
Of the three, Hoard and Core plan to run for public office or have some role in political campaigning. Williamowski is planning to be a lawyer.
Also in their group is Elizabeth Haavisto, 20, a student at Mount Union University in Alliance, Ohio. She's studying comparative politics and Japanese.
The students get three credits for their work, for which they must also complete journals.
In all, eight ONU students are participating in the program. The others are Alex Stefan, a junior political science major from Northwood; Joseph Railey Jr. a sophomore history major from Yorktown, Ind.; Katie Deeter, a sophomore political science major from Troy, Ohio; Robert Roll, a senior finance major from Gahanna, Ohio, and Thomas Smolarz, a sophomore political science major from Colon, Mich.
A smaller group of students will attend the Democratic convention next week. It's all sponsored by the The Washington Center’s Democratic and Republican National Convention Academic Seminars.
Students spend a week of the program learning the history of political campaigns, convention planning and procedures, and the role of the media. The second half of the program they spend at ther convention itself.
You can read more and see their tweets at http://www.onu.edu/features/42159.
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