USD Magazine, Fall 1996

SNACKS, FACTS AND GIFT PACKS Jvtvde-rvt; V o-btvrvb00,"& ~j:J/t; 0 e,o-,evt;e, ff) lv00t& 97iv,"rvill(!F

Tha dahale inspired a voter registration driva an campus.

USD sludanls ereded their awn lawn hall.

The visiting sixth-graders parlii:ipaled in a mack election.

IN hen USD junior Judy McDonald put her name into the pool of student volunteers willing to help with the debate, she figured on getting an inside look at how a presidential debate is produced. She didn't figure on finding out what Jim Lehrer likes to eat before tak– ing the stage. "He asked for Snickers bars, peanuts and green olives," says McDonald of the journalist who moderated the debate. "It was up to me to go find it all." By the time Lehrer arrived, McDonald had located the necessary provisions. That task was just one of the many problems she solved as a volunteer at the Commission for Presidential Debates' com– mand post near Shiley Theatre. In the five days leading up to the debate, McDonald worked from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. every day, provid–

Barbara Peterson, who coordinated the volunteer effort. "It was thrilling to have so many students tell me about the connections they made for future jobs or internships." Excitement about volunteering caused a chain reaction, as many student volunteers organized their own networks of workers. School of Law student Sophia Roach recruited campus-wide to find hosts for a pre-debate program that brought more than 150 sixth– grade students to campus for tours of Shiley Theatre and a mock election, complete with the children's own ballot initiatives. "When I first volunteered, my main goal was to meet the presi– dent," says Roach as she beamed at the youngsters presenting the pros and cons of their initiatives in Hahn University Center on Oct. 11. "But it's been so great to work with these children that I guess I don't need that."

ing everything the production team needed and quietly tapping her own network of supply sources. "The Commission staff found out early I had a way of finagling things

·rrHIS WAS MV CHANCE TO REACH OUT AND GET PEOPLE TO PARTICIPATE.••

Senior Seth Delong didn't get to meet the candidates either, but he did have an effect on how many people will be voting for them. This

fall, Delong and other USD stu– dents staffed a booth at San Diego's Street Scene music festival for Rock the Vote, a non-partisan voter registration effort aimed at col– lege students. They registered hundreds of new voters and Delong decided to continue the effort by setting up a voter registration booth on campus. "Many of the students were excited because they were register–

they couldn't get as quickly through regular channels," McDonald laughs. "They were really grateful for that. When I located the lighting director a set of colored pencils, he used them later to make me a birthday card." About the only thing McDonald couldn't finagle was a ticket to the debate itself. But five minutes before the event began, the Commission rewarded her dedication with a front-row seat.

ing for the first time," says Delong, a political science major. "This was my chance to reach out and get peo– ple to participate." As Peterson points out, participation was never a problem f~r USD students. "Every day, the students just hung around the vol– unteer headquarters and waited for assignments," she says. "We showed the Commission, the media and the candidates how great our students really are."

Although McDonald was one of the few volunteers to receive a ticket to the debate, the more than 600 students who offered to help out wherever they were needed during debate week were rarely disappointed with their experience. Whether it was constructing the volunteer Town Hall location featured on many news programs, driving the golf carts that shuttled digni– taries such as Gov. Pete Wilson and Sen. Christopher Dodd, putting together gift packs or acting as informal ambassadors and information officers for campus guests, USD's students kept everyone on track. "We could not have put on this debate without the initiative, skills and willingness of our students," says

- Michael R. Haskins

USD sludanls hasted 150 local sixth-graders an campus far a day al volar education.

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