Opening Membership Drive at Newberry College

In our inaugural event of the semester, the Newberry College chapter of Young Americans for Liberty manned a table at this morning’s student organization fair, mainly aimed at getting freshmen involved on campus. By inviting students to next week’s opening meeting, to include provided pizza and beverages, we were happy to sign up twenty students, fifteen of whom were freshmen. The Ron Swanson and Michael Scott YAL posters (included in the recruitment kit) were effective attention-grabbers. We distributed pocket Constitutions (and one translated in Spanish), YAL palm cards, and “How to Deal with Police” cards. Only a few students we approached actually turned us down, but the majority were more than willing to sign up for more information.

At such a small campus at Newberry, or really anywhere, it can be difficult to get students excited about politics. I’ve found that one must remain energized, engage with everyone, don’t hide behind the clipboard or table, and don’t be afraid to put in the work to bring each student into the cause. The skills and connections I was able to make at YALCON this year really enabled me to hit the ground running, and I’m certainly looking forward to putting these skills to work this semester.