This is a sponsored feature. All opinions are 100% from Her Campus.
On Wednesday, October 3, 2018, Her Campus Rutgers partnered with New York Times Get With The Times program to host a watch party of a live stream of Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders speaking at the University of Maryland with New York Times correspondent Alexander Burns. Her Campus Rutgers also did an “HC Takes On Politics” theme week, which featured at least one politics-related article each day throughout the entire week, during the week of the event. In order to market the event, members of HC Rutgers used social media, flyers, postcards, and word of mouth techniques.
It was such an amazing experience to get current members of the Rutgers community together for a watch party featuring Bernie Sanders hosted by Her Campus Rutgers. The night was filled with fun, free food, and free swag. In addition to the quality time that members of the Her Campus Rutgers community were able to spend together, there were plenty of new faces that were introduced to the ideology and purpose of Her Campus Rutgers. Here is a quick recap of the event in case you missed it:
(Rutgers Student Rachel Rebello)
The One and Only Senator Bernie Sanders.
No one can compare to the ultimate Bernie Sanders. Prior to this event, I was not a huge advocate of Bernie Sanders. I entered the event with an open mind and realized that Senator Bernie Sanders had some very interesting ideas, such as those regarding capitalism and minorities, that definitely needed to be heard. One of my favorites quotes of the night was “You not only have to vote, you gotta drag your friends out.”
VOTING.
This brings me to my second point: the awareness of the importance of voting. This event was a great way to endorse the importance of voting. During the live stream, Senator Sanders emphasized the importance of voting, especially for women and people of color. Voting gives us a voice in the government and it would be a shame to not use that voice. Don’t forget to vote in the midterm elections on November 6, 2018.
(HC Rutgers Member, Erin Yu)
PIZZA!
Not to mention, there was free pizza! College students love nothing more than free food, free shirts, sleep, and canceled classes. Well, we got at least one out of four of those items! Her Campus Rutgers worked with Her Campus National to ensure that the attendees of the watch party were well-fed as they relaxed and listened to Senator Sanders.
NYT SWAG!
Not only was there free pizza but there was also free New York Times swag. Her Campus Rutgers also orchestrated a raffle, consisting of a drawstring NYT bag, NYT buttons, NYT stickers, NYT reusable water bottle, and an NYT hat. Individuals were able to enter the raffle upon check-in. The lucky winner was announced at the end of the event- Divya Bhagat.
Overall, Turn Up the Turnout with Bernie Sanders was a true “turn up”. Based on the verbal feedback, most attendees said they enjoyed the event. HC Rutgers Marketing Director, Arushi Gupta, created follow up surveys and distributed them to attendees. Don’t fret if you weren’t able to make it to this event because HC Rutgers has plenty more in store for you!
Thank you to New York Times and Her Campus National for helping us bring Bernie Sanders to Rutgers (virtually, at least).
(Campus Correspondent, Keoni Nguyen, and Senior Editor Hannah Javed)