College Republicans aim to promote political awareness
By Eric Wallace // Staff Writer
High Point University has a diverse series of clubs and organizations on campus. One of those organizations is College Republicans.
The club seeks to “promote political awareness among students, support respective candidates for their office and actively campaign for elected officials,” according to their website. The club volunteers with many GOP related causes. It also frequently has guest speakers from Republican allied groups such as Generation Opportunity. Despite being a Republican cause, the club is welcoming of people of all political backgrounds.
“College Republicans want to encourage students to become more involved in the political process,” Molly Faris, club president, said. “We also want to bring opportunities to the students of High Point University to work within politics on the local and national level.”
The club also seeks to create a place for Republicans to gather and discuss politics.
“By spreading the word of conservatism across campus we aim to join together all like-minded people and rally as many new people as possible,” A.J. DiRosa, club vice president, said.
College Republicans hosts a series of events including debate watch parties, phone banking and going door-to-door to encourage voters to exercise their right to vote.
Every spring the organization goes to the Washington D.C. area to participate in the Conservative Political Action Conference, or C.P.A.C., a massive conservative gathering that features numerous Republican speakers. Some of which last year included Sarah Palin, Sean Hannity, Newt Gingrich and a series of current GOP presidential candidates.
“C.P.A.C. is an amazing opportunity to network and meet with people in the political realm,” Cameron MacDonald said. “C.P.A.C. is important for conservatives to attend because it gives them a chance to expand their horizons.”
A recent event the club hosted occurred when club members gathered in the screening room of the Nido Quebein School of Communications to watch the CNN hosted Republican debate. Staffers from Ben Carson’s presidential campaign were in attendance to sign up interested volunteers.
“These debate watch parties are where students can get together and watch and talk about what they like and dislike about the prospective candidates,” Faris said.
The organization plans to volunteer in the local community as it heads into the 2016 presidential season.
“We need to get boots on the ground going door-to-door in the local areas as proudly and as powerfully as we can for the presidential nominee,” DiRosa said.
The club’s interests remain strongly vested in getting students at HPU to care about politics regardless of political affiliation.
“Decisions made in this upcoming election directly impact our generation,” Faris said in describing the club’s interest in the 2016 election. “It is important for students to be aware of the impact that politicians have on their everyday lives.”
The club underlines that the current political issues at hand will impact HPU students when they graduate and beyond.
“We all want to have promising futures when we leave HPU,” Faris said. “Developing our knowledge of current issues and developing our leadership skills for tomorrow are critical.”