Throughout college I’ve done many jobs: taking drive through orders, seating people at fancy restaurants, shoveling mulch and planting Bromeliads, lifeguarding, giving campus tours and helping new students pick their classes, but the most meaningful jobs have been the ones I don’t get paid for.
In 2018, I petitioned for recreational cannabis and registered people to vote at my college campus encouraging them to vote yes on amendment 4 (voting rights restoration); in 2019, I started a Sunrise Chapter and organized climate strikes into 2020 when I ran for State Senate District 27 against the Republican incumbent Ray Rodriguez.
It was through that experience that I got involved with a group called Rights of Nature (RON) which would later form the Right to Clean Water (RTCW). I started volunteering as a petition circulator for them in the Summer of 2022. June 16th will be the 1 year anniversary as a volunteer petition circulator for the Right to Clean and Healthy Waters ballot initiative. I’ve recently formed a DECF Right to Clean Water committee and became vice president of the Democratic Environmental Caucus of Lee County (DECL). I’ve also worked out a deal with a local kava bar where I host an eco-themed event with live music, vegan food and a beach cleanup pre-game.
Income from my event, subsidized by student loans, got me through my last semester of Engineering school.
Now that I’ve recently graduated I don’t have the student loan subsidy, so in the next 2-3 months while I’m studying for my engineering license exam I’m going to have to get a part time job working fast food, something I can get quickly (I know from experience. One time I walked into a McDonalds for an interview and worked an 11 hour shift the next day).
I’d like to try to avoid this. There is just so much activism to be done that I will have to set aside, so I’m putting this out there, and if I raise $1,000 by May 27th, I’ll quit whatever nothing-job I end up getting.
The benefits of me doing activism this summer is that there are many things I have in the works that need to get off the ground.
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Forming a county progressive caucus. By the time I’m an engineer I’d like to have bi-weekly meetings and 10 members.
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Forming a Lee County renters union. By the time I’m an engineer I’d like to have gone to as many municipal meetings as I could this summer in order to get a clear vision of what needs to happen in order to make a renters union.
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Right to Clean Water Ballot Initiative. We have 5 months left to get 1 million signatures. I have 15 volunteers to organize at the college. I need to keep growing the volunteer base over the summer, and connect with other universities. When I’m an engineer I plan on being the advisor to the college efforts, meeting periodically with on campus volunteers, and planning weekend events.
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Eco Evening. If I can get a banner made for Eco Evenings over the summer. I’ll be happy.
There are a lot of things that need to be set in motion this summer and require me to spend at least 30 hours a week to get it all done.
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