HutchCC Republican, Democrat clubs team up to hold upcoming informational meeting

By Cassidy Peterson
Staff writer

If Hutchinson Community College students are interested in getting more involved on campus or want to voice their political opinions, the Young Democrats or College Republicans may be the clubs to join.

The College Republicans, sponsored by Dana Hinshaw, only has six active members, but has been involved this year. For instance, members were able to tour the Capitol in Topeka, where they met Reno County legislators and were able to attend a House of Representatives session.

The group has also revised their constitution and had guest speakers, Kansas state Senator Mark Steffen and Kansas state Representative Michael Murphy visit in the fall.

Sebastian Evans, a Hutchinson freshman and member of the College Republicans says,

“What I like about the Republican club is that we get to hear from our representatives and senators,” said Hutchinson freshman Sebastian Evans. “They got to go to Topeka and talk to representatives and senators about current issues and how the state government works.”

Evans said he hopes that the club grows so that he can participate in more events in the future.

The club meets on the second Tuesday of each month at 2 p.m. in the Alumni Room in Parker Student Union.

Along with the College Republicans, there is also the Young Democrats club, sponsored by Bradley Fenwick. Although there are not any current members in the club, the club has also been very active in the past. The group has put on voter registration drives, participated in community service events, and just had meetings to discuss current political issues. A few HutchCC students even created a Political Action Committee for Reno County, so that they could campaign. The club previously would meet every two weeks or at least once a month depending on what the students wanted.

A forum was sponsored by the two groups in the fall where Kansas state representatives Paul Waggoner (Republican) and Jason Probst (Democrat) discussed issues that are important to college students and topics that the Kansas Legislature would be discussing in the upcoming session.

The two clubs are joining together once again in order to host a joint informational meeting at 2 p.m. Tuesday in the Blue Dragon Room, in Parker Student Union. There will be snacks and the event will be sort of come and go.

Fenwick says the meeting will be a way to get information out to students about the clubs, and hopefully stir up some excitement about the upcoming election. The meeting will also give the Republican and Democrat students a chance to socialize.

Both sponsors are eager to increase membership in their clubs and allow students to express their views and stay informed.

“Our future plans are to grow our club and provide great experiences for our members,” Hinshaw said. “And to provide political events and activities on campus and encourage students to become active in the political process.”

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