Christopher Jerrolds, President of the Tennessee Federation of College Democrats, is deeply upset by these impending cuts. “Being part of the 60% of students at Vanderbilt that receive financial aid, I am very concerned about the hurt that college students may face as a result the impending cuts to federal aid in Tennessee due to sequestration,” Jerrolds said. “Lawmakers continuously stress the importance of creating sustainable jobs, yet they refuse to protect students who are working to better themselves and America.”

Unfortunately, Tennessee is not the only state facing cuts to higher education. The GOP sequester’s effects are far-reaching. Indeed, there will be a reduction in funding nationwide to work-study programs, Iraq-Afghanistan service grants, grants to individuals pursuing a teaching degree, and interest rates on new Stafford loans will double to 6.8%.

As President Obama said in the re-election campaign on the importance of education, “we have an obligation and a responsibility to be investing in our students and our schools. Republican obstructionism places the government at risk of not fulfilling this obligation to the American people.

We as college students must stand with President Obama and Christopher Jerrolds to ensure that students are protected by replacing the sequester with a balanced alternative. Indeed, in order to ensure that all students get access to the best education possible, we must all take a moment to call our Congressmen, write a letter to the editor about why federal aid programs under the chopping block are important, and continue to raise awareness on college campuses across the nation. Only through our perseverance will Republicans get the message that compromise is far overdue and work with Democrats to replace the sequester.

My parents are both first generation Americans, coming to the United States from India in the mid 1980’s. My father came to America to pursue higher education in science and research. His dream of coming to America would not have been possible without a merit-based assistantship he earned at the State University of New York. My mother’s story is slightly different. Upon arriving in America, she was fascinated by the advanced technology in computer graphics this country had to offer. She pursued a master’s degree in architecture specializing in computer aided architectural design. It was a work study program at her college that helped her
afford her education.

My parents are my role models and are the reason I am here today. Their success stories would not be possible if it wasn’t for their hard work and the merit-based work study research & teaching assistantships they earned in college. I am proud to stand up for President Obama and the Democratic Party because they stand up for me, my community and young Americans across this nation. Over the last four years, President Obama has expanded Pell Grants, helping nearly 4 million more students afford college. He has capped federal student loan payments at 10 percent of monthly income, which helps over a million students manage their monthly payments.

For President Obama this issue is personal. He went to college on loans and worked to finally pay them off in January of 2004. He and other Democrats such as Senator Sherrod Brown have fought to make college more affordable and accessible for America’s students.

Whether it is education, immigration or job creation, Asian American & Pacific Islander students are proud to stand with President Obama and the Democratic Party. This was evident in 2012 when AAPI’s came out big for the President: 73 percent to Republican candidate Mitt Romney’s 26 percent, a 47 percentage point gap, according to exit polls. 2012 was a historic year for our community as five new AAPI’s were elected to the Congress including two female combat veterans. With the AAPI community becoming the fastest growing demographic in America, the College Democrats of America is doing everything we can to reach out to young
AAPI’s and show them that when it comes to our values, it is the Democratic Party that stands up for us.

At Kenyon College, I continued my activism in Democratic politics. I joined the Kenyon College Democrats and started volunteering on behalf of local Democratic candidates and causes with the Knox County Democratic Party. During the summers, I sought internship opportunities to explore different ways to pursue a career in public service. I started as an intern in Democracy for America’s political department where I played a pivotal role in development and implementation of their “Boycott BP” campaign. The summer after sophomore year, I served as an intern with the Democratic National Committee where I was trained as one of the original OFA Organizing Fellows in the office and worked in Ward 3 of the District as well as Northern Virginia. After that summer, I continued with the campaign in numerous capacities in Ohio, Vermont, and New Hampshire.) The following summer, I became a White House intern and served in the Office of Management and Administration where I worked the switchboard. Most recently, I waged a successful campaign to become a 2012 Vermont District Level Delegate at the Democratic National Convention.

Throughout, I have received some excellent advice ever most on my mind  as I prepare to graduate. First, do not pursue an opportunity just because it seems like the right thing to do. Make choices based your passions; it is important that you do something that you enjoy. Second, it is okay to make the wrong choice, like choosing an internship that you end up not liking. Indeed, that is incredibly important to know. College is the time to explore a range of potential jobs and careers. It is better to identify what you don’t want to do now as compared to when you do not have the opportunity to test jobs through internships. Finally, if you work hard you will get noticed. I have found that one of the best ways to get recognition and advance in the professional world is by simply doing the job that you were asked to do efficiently, with good cheer, and with the confidence to ask questions as needed. No job is too small where a common goal is involved, and the large ones can be broken down into manageable pieces.

Apart from these skills, I have come to conclude something particularly relevant to college students seeking to become more involved in public service: As a young person, I have frequently been told not to apply for this internship or that internship because I am too young and that I would stand no chance against others with more experience. Indeed, when running for Delegate, I was cautioned numerous times not even to try because the chances of success were very slim. DO NOT LISTEN TO THESE NAYSAYERS. Nothing really worth having in life is easy to get. Ambitious goals take work and a good plan, but if you are passionate about your pursuits and confident in yourself, go for it! For starters, you have your age working for you. People love to see youth involved in politics and service.

Just over one month after taking effect, the sequester cuts have pervaded far and wide. Hitting almost every state, funding had been reduced for scientific research, scholarly endeavors, public housing, and all levels of education from Head Start to Pell Grants to Fulbrights. In addition, access to recreational spaces such as parks and beaches have been reduced, as well as closure of air traffic control towers. These cuts are only the beginning. If Republicans fail to offer sensible solutions, 700,000 jobs are projected to be lost by the end of the year, which deprives America of the key investments that improve the quality of our lives and that allow us to be competitive in the future.

Still, the Republicans continue to offer non-serious solutions. Paul Ryan, for example, put out an even more extreme version of the Romney-Ryan budget. In his version, released in mid-March, he claimed that he could balance the budget by 2023. His budget, however, is premised on the full repeal of the Affordable Care Act and fails to call upon the wealthy to pay a fair share. Paul Ryan and the Republican Party aren’t listening. They seem to forget that they just lost an election. The American people want policies that protect and help the average American.

President Obama has continued to reach out across the isle to suggest responsible policies to replace the sequester. Although he is willing to compromise, he is not willing to give up his key values. His north star, as he has said, is his vision of a vibrant and strong middle class. Following a plan laid out in his State of the Union address, he has worked tirelessly to make America a magnet for jobs and to provide workers the skills necessary to be competitive. This is the sensible, sustainable road to economic recovery.

We must stop the damage that the GOP sequester has started. Republicans must work with President Obama and the Democratic Party to prevent more job loss and budgetary cuts. They must propose serious solutions that would stimulate job growth, save pivotal programs, and replace the sequester in a balanced way. In specific, they must come to the table with the Democrats and recognize the concessions that have already been offered. Cooperation and compromise will lead to a sustained recovery, and the sooner, the better, as America is counting on it.

Nick Roloson, still making great strides in Democratic politics

While attending St. John’s University in New York City, Nick enjoyed studying politics, his major, and exploring the surrounding borough of Queens. But his true passion was for the College Democrats.

“From the time I was in high school I cared about politics,” Nick said. “So I went tothe first College Dems meeting that they had at St. John’s and quickly became friends with everybody, and loved what they were doing and what they were about.”

Nick was elected president of the St. John’s College Democrats his sophomore year, the first step in a College Democrats journey that would leave him president of the College Democrats of New York and northeast regional director of the College Democrats of America.

“The amount of people that you meet and the connections that you make are so helpful to you as an individual moving forward,” Nick said, speaking about his College Democrats experience, “because you establish this tremendous network of people who are in the same field as you.”

Nick’s tenure as president of the St. John’s College Democrats paralleled the 2008 presidential election. During campaign season, he worked with school administrators and leaders of the College Republicans to establish “Participate ’08,” a civic engagement initiative through which he organized voter registration drives, policy discussions and mock debates.

He brought these organizing skills to bear while serving as Assemblyman Miller’s campaign manager in 2010. In fact, he did so well that, after winning re-election, the assemblyman made Nick his chief of staff, the youngest in the N.Y. State Assembly at the time.

“It was certainly intimidating,” Nick said, referring to his experience being a 21-year-old chief of staff. “Thankfully, through my various work on campaigns, I had a few mentors who were able to answer my silly questions and who taught me how to think like a chief of staff. They made it a lot easier for me to learn.”

Nick, now 24, is currently running the city council campaign of Costa Constantinides in Astoria, Queens. To this day, Nick said, nearly two years after college graduation, the connections he made through the College Democrats are proving useful.

“I can call my friend in Florida who did graphic design to help me out with a logo for something,” he said. “Or if I have a question about field work, I can call my friend in Texas who is working on a Congressional race at such a young age.”

Planning to stay involved in both politics and College Democrats, Nick urged young people of all political leanings to get involved with an organization like the College Democrats, saying, “It opens up your world.”

Despite growing up in the conservative town of Sussex, Wisc., located in a county where two-thirds of voters supported Gov. Mitt Romney in the 2012 presidential election, Sarah came to college eager to get involved in progressive politics.

“In high school, after taking classes and writing about politics for the school newspaper, I came to identify as progressive,” Sarah said. “So my freshman year in college the first club I got involved with was the College Democrats.”

Now, 18 months after attending her first UW-Whitewater College Democrats meeting, Sarah is the club’s second vice chair. She has spent her time with the club campaigning to recall Gov. Scott Walker, organizing community events, and making strong friendships. Without the College Democrats, she explained, she would not be an elected official.

“Someone from the County Board actually came to one of our College Democrats meetings to try to get someone to run, to recruit a candidate for the County Board,” she recalled. “So myself being at that meeting of the College Dems, and then someone coming in and saying we want someone to run – I never would have known about that opportunity if it wasn’t for the College Dems.”

Plus, she continued, her friends from the College Democrats were eager to lend a helping hand on the campaign.

“Everyone from the College Dems is super willing to help me if I want to knock on doors,” she said. “Going to the state convention everyone was like, ‘Wow you are running for County Board, that is so cool, anything we can do to help we definitely will.’ So it is amazing to have that support system behind me.”

As a member of the Jefferson County Board of Supervisors, Sarah meets with her 29 colleagues once monthly to consider resolutions and ordinances recommended by various county committees; typical topics include student housing, alcohol licensing, zoning, and farmland preservation.

If elected to the Whitewater City Council, the issues would be similar, but, as she put it, “a little closer to home.” In both roles, however, she strives to represent the needs of her fellow students.

“There is always something that is going to come up that is directly related to students,” she said. “So I am really looking forward to being a student on the council and really being able to provide that input.”

Sarah, a public policy and administration major, has over two years until graduation but knows she wants to stay involved with public service, especially state and local government. For now, though, she is just happy to represent her community on the county- and city-level.

“Men are raised to play football, to bash their heads and come back for more. Women are raised to stand back. We aren’t raised to be risk takers.” -Representative Sue Myrick

This quote is true in so many cases, but I am going to prove society wrong. Slowly but surely, women are becoming more represented in society, although we already comprise over half of the population. I grew up being inspired by women’s activists like Hillary Clinton, Eleanor Roosevelt, and more recently, Elizabeth Warren. If these women have the drive and determination to be role models for me, I hope to follow in their footsteps and be that woman for another little girl.

My determination and drive in politics is ignited by the women who do not think that they can accomplish what they want or deserve. Too often I have witnessed women back down from challenge and adversity because they did not believe in themselves; the glass ceiling has a great intimidation factor, but by overcoming our fears we shatter the ceiling. The women before me have fought to get to where we are now: the record number of women in Congress, the Lilly Ledbetter Act, and soon, the next woman president. I have a duty to the women before me who blazed a trail for us to continue advocating for our rights. We will no longer be viewed differently in the workplace, in math and science, or in positions of power. Happy Women’s History Month: let’s continue having something to celebrate.

-Sara Valentine, CDA Women’s Caucus Chair