Professor Alexander and HPJ Students at Republican National Convention

Dr. Alexander led a delegation of eight ONU students, primarily Political Science majors, to take part in the Republican National Convention in Tampa.  

The students: Shelby Core, a sophomore political science major of Wapakoneta, Anna Hoard, a sophomore political science major of Kalamazoo, Mich., and John Williamowski Jr. a freshman political science major of Lima, Alex Stefan, a junior political science major from Northwood; Joseph Railey Jr. a sophomore history major from Yorktown, Ind.; Katie Deeter, a sophomore political science major from Troy, Ohio; Robert Roll, a senior finance major from Gahanna, Ohio,  and Thomas Smolarz, a sophomore political science major from Colon, Mich. Arrived a week early to take part in classes on the political process and listen to guest speakers in the program offered by the Washington Center.

During the week of the actual convention, they worked as interns for various organizations including CNN, the Ohio Republican Party, and Bloomberg News, among others.  They reported various once-in-a-lifetime experiences such as watching speakers such as Vice Presidential nominee Paul Ryan, meeting delegates at the airport, and learning what goes into putting on such an event.  This is politics in the real world as opposed to the classroom. 

Among comments reported in the press were:

Shelby Core “I heard about it as a freshman and thought it sounded like a cool experience. I was a senator at Girls State and it sounded like a learning experience like that,” Core said. “Getting involved in politics, this will be good to start off small and work your way up. As a young person, I can watch these delegates and see what my future might hold.”

John Willamoski: "I mean we've seen it on tv a lot of times.  That's something I've wanted to go to since I was little.  So, it will be really interesting, and a lot of fun,"

ONU alumnus Michael Smith is president of the Washington Center for Internships and Academic Seminars. The program “teaches students about the process, but not from the sidelines,” he said.

Dr. Alexander "They're (the students) going to rub elbows with some of the most powerful people in the world.  That alone makes the world a smaller place for them and makes it much more attainable and gives them some inspiration to say this is something I can do myself,"

Another group is taking part in the Democratic National this week and we can’t wait to hear about their experiences!

This type of programming is part of HPJ’s effort to get our students out into the real world to put the knowledge they gain in the classroom to work!