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| With President Obama |
I am a BIG fan of Obama....ask any of my friends who I support and voted for in the election, and there will be no question. I am very vocal about my opinion, sometimes creating problems on Facebook with my conservative friends. I am such a big supporter in fact, that I got more involved with politics this year than I ever had before. I actually worked on the Obama campaign!
It was such an awesome experience. I worked with the people in the Salem, NH office...they were an incredible group of people! Night and day, volunteers young and old were there, giving their time to make phone calls, stuff envelopes or just be there to help in any way they could. There was such an amazing energy and buzz in the room. You could tell everyone was exhausted but at the same time so excited about the upcoming election.
I got involved by spreading the word...I went door to door in NH, which is called "canvassing"...Luckily for me, I was only going to registered Democrats' doors, but I would have gone to Republicans just the same! The goal was to make sure that we encouraged EVERY SINGLE registered Democrat to get out there and vote for Obama.
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| Gov. Deval Patrick |
The reason I worked with NH is because it is a swing state, meaning it can change from one election to the next being either "Democratic" or "Republican". Since Massachusetts is such a strong Democratic state, I felt it was more important to get involved in New Hampshire. Rockingham County, NH is one of the most important areas in terms of voting in all the state of NH.
One of the nights I was working with the NH campaign office, we had a surprise visitor....Governor Deval Patrick stopped by! It was such an honor to meet the Governor and get to shake his hand and take a picture with him....He had such wonderful things to say to the volunteers and workers of the Obama Campaign headquarters. It was a proud moment for me and I was touched that he would make the trip up to New Hampshire on a weeknight just to thank us.
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| With Deval Patrick in the Obama Campaign office |
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| Gov. Patrick addressing the Salem, NH Obama Campaign |
In addition to canvassing the area door to door, I also made phone calls....hundreds of phone calls! I had such a blast doing so...and sure, I got hung up on a few times...I called people who were registered Democrats who wanted to know how I got this information and said it was private. That was quite funny. I had one guy tell me if he got one more call he was going to come there and yell at me in person...that was not so funny! The majority of the people I talked to were pretty awesome though....I had some great conversations with military vets, same sex couples, young college students as well as one 90 year old woman who was a "proud Obama supporter".
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| Two of the best Anti-Romney signs at the Concord, NH rally |
In addition to working with the campaign, I attended two of the Obama rallies held in New Hampshire. The first was in August and it was held in Windham, NH. I got the chance to hear Obama speak from about 10 feet away. The second rally was in November right before the election and was held in Concord, NH. At this really I got the chance to hear not just Obama speak (TWICE) but former President Bill Clinton! In fact, I waited over two hours in line on a Sunday morning to get a glimpse of Obama and Clinton together. It was such a great experience and I am proud to say that I was there and hear the President speak in person. It was certainly a once in a lifetime opportunity and something I was always remember!
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| The crowd listening to Obama and Clinton speak in Concord, NH |
It is so important to stand for what you believe in, and that is why I support President Obama. He is such an amazing person and fights for the middle class, as well as our veterans, the elderly, the GBLT population, the poor, immigrants and most importantly to me, teachers and students. There are so many reasons why I supported his platform. I value everything Obama stands for and what he believes in.
So even if I angered a few people on Facebook with my political rants, and may have even been "unfriended" a time or two, I am proud to say that I stand for what I believe in and I believe in the President of the United States. I believe that getting involved in our communities, whether it be through politics or service learning, is so important and something that can be introduced into our classrooms as teachers. The more we are educated about the world around us, the better we are as teachers and the more we can give back to our children.
