By Gabrielle Martin, Staff Reporter.
College students often have strong stances on issues that can impact their daily lives. Students will have the opportunity to learn about some of these issues and have venues to act on them from Oct. 28 through Oct. 30 during “Change Your World Week” on main campus.
Students in POL-104 will be presenting information on issues that they care about in the halls during the event and encouraging students to take action. There are a broad range of matters that will be presented, according to Lisa Lawrason, Professor of Political Science at Delta and a coordinator of the event.
“I really wanted [students] to pick an issue that they had a personal connection with,” says Lawrason.
Topics from fixing Michigan roads to funding for education to animal rights will be presented. Students worked in groups to research their chosen issue and plan an awareness campaign. The groups will have tables set up that present their issue in a variety of creative ways. Each table will have an action piece that provides students with a venue to take action. These venues include signing a petition and forms to send letters to lawmakers. Some groups will include information that states where certain politicians stand on the issues.
“The idea,” says Lawrason, “is to – rather than just a get out and vote event like we have had in the past – broaden student minds about how decisions made by officials have real impacts that affect students’ lives.”
Several student organizations including Citizens in Action, Black Student Union, Unison, Student Senators, and Honors Leadership Board will also be doing presentations during Change Your World Week.
According to Lawrason, Citizens in Action is planning on having a board with two columns on it – “The world as it is” and “The world as it should be” – where students can post things that they feel are wrong with the world and what they would like to see in the world.
Student Senators will be doing something similar except that their board columns will be “Delta as it is” and “Delta as it should be”.
A parade will occur Tuesday Oct. 28 and Thursday Oct. 30 at noon. The parade will include some small floats, posters, banners, and music that raise awareness about the issues that students presented. A few members of Delta faculty and staff will serve as judges of the floats, awarding prizes for the top three floats.
On Tuesday, all students are encouraged to use a microphone outside of E-Wing and express what motivates them to go out and make a positive change in the world.
This event is an initiative of the Democracy Commitment at Delta College. This is a nationwide initiative of community colleges that is dedicated to preparing students for citizenship. According to Lawrason, Delta is one of the original 23 colleges to sign the initiative.
