Lobby Day: GMU Heads to the Virginia State Capitol
For the past three to now going on four weeks, I have enjoyed reading everyone’s blog posts and seeing the dynamics on the floor shift. Unfortunately, my schedule this semester has not given me time to be more of the in-class participant like I had hoped it would work out; however, my leadership role(s) on campus have only grown stronger and more engaged.
As many of my floormates know, I am a Senator in Student Government and sit on two different House Committees in the Senate: University Services and University Life. Student Government for the past semester progressively and collectively had been planning for an outreach project in the state, but was not quite certain of the most strategic way to do so.
This past Thursday, all of the hard work and dedication from Student Government truly paid off: We hosted Mason Lobby Day at the Virginia State Capitol and General Assembly. Each student was split into a group depending upon where the student resides and represented that particular region of Virginia. Now for many of you all, I am sure you were wondering yourselves what about the out-of-state students: They were given a randomized region of Virginia to represent.
My role during Lobby Day was to represent the great region of Southwest Virginia and discuss the current and future role Mason plays to the state of Virginia to gain support for the campus. My region was a little harder yet more important to gain traction with from state legislators, because GMU is not as popular is SW VA as it is in NoVA. During the day, I was assigned three state legislators to talk to and persuade them with my personal snippet as to why I consider GMU so advantageous to my current education, life experience, and future career. All of these were such easy targets to discuss, because each subject was why I chose George Mason.
Reflecting upon the GMU Lobby Day, it was such a great opportunity for me to work as a group function for leadership and strengthen relations among the government. One of my career goals is to become a lobbyist, and I enjoyed being able to provide my past leadership skills to build future knowledge of an occupation I am highly considering.
I encourage each of you all this semester to take the time out to push your leadership skills to the test by taking the plunge out of your comfort zone and working towards your future! It is our time to shine LCE!! Also, feel free to use me as a liaison between your interests and passions to work with Student Government or if you need promotional help on Mason Cable News! Be sure to tune in every Tuesday morning at 10 a.m. on Channel 231!
Best,
Lauren-Haley
February 14th, 2013 at 1:01 am
Lauren I think that you are setting a great example of leadership on campus! I heard about your involvement with Mason Cable News and I think it is AWESOME! So many people on our floor have already worked towards their dreams even though it’s only been a semester! Great work in putting your leadership skills to the test, I’ll definately keep an eye out for your news broadcasts
February 18th, 2013 at 4:36 am
~One of my career goals is to become a lobbyist~
‘If you don’t know where you’re going any road will take you there!’
You know where you’re going! Looks like you are headed down the right path!