July 19, 2012 | SharkAdmin The Alamo Colleges rolled out the red carpet to welcome the national meeting of the Democracy Commitment, an initiative of the American Association of State Colleges and Universities in San Antonio June 7-9 at the Marriot Rivercenter. The Democracy Commitment, to which the Alamo Colleges are a signatory, is a nationwide initiative designed to increase the level of civic engagement among students at community colleges. Northwest Vista College student Shea Adams kicked off the event with a rousing performance of the National Anthem, as Alamo Colleges Chancellor Bruce Leslie met with conference organizers at the opening plenary session. NVC students Evan Bohl and Alyssa Martin, of NVC’s “Project Dem” student club presented a poster highlighting a series of candidate forums in which Project Dem organized “meet and greets” with local politicians from both political parties. As a result of the student presentation, Evan has been invited to participate in a nationwide Webinar sponsored by the Democracy Commitment. He has also received an invitation by a community college in North Texas to present to students regarding best practices for organizing similar candidate forums. He said attending the conference was an “amazing opportunity” and he and Project Dem hope to bring voter awareness to NVC in the fall semester. The Alamo Colleges also sponsored a “Campus Spotlight” table at the conference, highlighting Palo Alto College’s integration of community service into student club membership, as well as NVC's Service Learning Program. The signature initiative for the Democracy Commitment this year is a “get out the vote” effort for the 2012 election. The Alamo Colleges will collaborate with the Democracy Commitment for resources and best practices as the fall election approaches. “I look forward to working with my colleagues at our sister colleges as we undertake voter registration and education efforts designed to increase students’ civic participation during the 2012 elections,” said Craig Coroneos, Alamo Colleges Democracy Commitment Campus coordinator and NVC instructor of Humanities. Palo Alto College’s legendary Mariachi Palomino, conducted by Grammy Award-winning director Juan Ortiz, closed out the conference, which was attended by nearly 500 participants. – Contributed by Craig Coroneos, Humanities faculty
