DENVER—Fetching coffee for delegates to the Denver National Convention or checking their badges for access don’t sound like tasks that can lead to learning, but officials Wednesday announced a program where university students can earn credit doing just that.
As many as 300 students from across the country will have a chance to learn firsthand about politics through a partnership among Regis University, the Denver 2008 Host Committee and the Washington-based The Washington Center. The Washington Center will send a similar number of students to the Republican convention in Minneapolis.
“There is no such thing as a bad placement,” said Eugene Alpert, senior vice president of the Washington Center, which usually provides educational opportunities in Washington and has been sending students to conventions since 1984. “They can’t expect that they are going to be flying with the high and mighty all the time. Our goal is to place them in a position where they can observe.”
Students will spend a week at Regis learning about the political and convention process from experts as well as networking. They’ll get an idea of what they might ask delegates, congressional members, candidates and other attendees.
During the convention, students might be assigned to run copy machines, answer phones and help delegates navigate the convention halls. While performing those tasks, students are expected interview those they come in contact with.
Alpert said the partnership is asking schools to grant students three hours’ credit for what amounts to an immersion into the political process.
“For young people to be that close to the convention is a once in a lifetime opportunity, especially in the time we’re living where we could possibly see the first woman, African American, or first Latino” win a presidential nomination, said Elbra Wedgeworth, president of the Denver 2008 Convention Host Committee.
Regis University provost Allan Service said he recalled being 8 years old and his mother telling him to watch the TV because something historic was happening.
It was Dwight D. Eisenhower’s nomination in 1952.
With conventions no longer taking up much TV network prime time, Service said the college credit program is a good way to expose youth to the political process.
“I’m trying to imagine what it would’ve been like if I was 21 and had that kind of access,” Service said.
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