The Office of Student Engagement invited three political actors across three events in March and April to encourage civic engagement and promote voting at AACC.

As part of the Voter Education Lunch & Learn Series, State Administrator of Elections Jared DeMarinis spoke about becoming an election judge; Special Secretary of Opioid Response for the State Emily Keller explained Maryland’s response to the opioid crisis; and William Rowel, the senior adviser to the Annapolis mayor, encouraged students to become politically engaged beyond voting.

“It’s just helpful to be able to bring some of these resources to [students], versus having them have to go out and find them,” OSE Director Amberdawn Cheatham said. “Why not bring them here on campus?”

According to Cheatham, this is the first time OSE has hosted the Voter Education Lunch & Learn Series and it plans to launch it again in the fall.

“It’s important to the college … to help students see it’s important to be civically engaged,” Cheatham said. “We [added] food to help [so] students don’t have to choose between eating lunch and learning.”

OSE staff wanted to create an “open space” for students to “have their concerns be heard” and “their questions answered,” according to Cheatham.

“Politics touches every part of our lives,” Cheatham said. “I think it’s very important for students to be engaged in the voting process to understand who it is that they have representing them. … [Politicians are] supposed to be representing their perspectives.”

Second-year math student Ev Hansen, who attended the opioid crisis event, agreed.

“People need to trust what’s going on in their system,” Hansen said. “Being involved in the process brings everybody together.”