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Political Action

Table of Contents

  • PACE 50-50 and Raffle Baskets for Activities Fair 

  • Impact of Education Through this Year's Election

  • Voter Registration Table 

  • RISE Representative on Campus

  • Trick-or-Vote

  • Presentations During Meetings for PACE

  • PACE Raffle Baskets for TLI Conference

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PACE 50-50 and Raffle Baskets for Activities Fair

At our Activities Fair, we raised money for the Political Action Committee for Education (PACE) by raffling off a school supply basket and a 50-50 raffle. We do raffles each year for PACE at the Activities Fair to communicate to new and old students the importance of PACE in our club. 

Impact on Education Through this Year's Election

The Pennsylvania gubernatorial election of 2022 was a referendum on many issues, the most important of which was education. While candidate Josh Shapiro supported public education as part of his platform, his opponent Doug Mastriano wanted to slash public school funds in half (among other detrimental practices). Mr. Fritz Fekete, Southwestern Region Advocacy Coordinator at Pennsylvania State Education Association, spoke to our club about the election and the importance of our votes, our continued involvement in politics, and the very real threats to public education in Pennsylvania.

Voter Registration Table

Recognizing the need for university students to vote, Pitt-Greensburg ran a voter registration table just outside our university dining hall. We encouraged everyone to vote, especially since the Pennsylvania Legislature had threatened to withhold public monies from the University of Pittsburgh campuses. Students finally realized the need and personal impact of political involvement!

RISE Representative on Campus

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In conjunction with our voter registration table, Ashlynn Poole, a Pennsylvania Fellow for RISE, spoke to students who came to the table. Ashlyn spoke to Pitt-Greensburg students about student earnings, student debt, and the gap differences in students. She asked students to sign a commitment to vote for free college tuition, a means of supporting all students who want to attend higher education. 

Trick-or-Vote 

Everyone loves candy and Halloween. Not everyone loves politics. Our Trick-or-Vote annual event tries to encourage students -- through candy and Halloween -- to care about voting.  Our PACE Chairs, Marina Lagattuta and Alec Patterson, wrote a note to campus residents about how the elections would impact them directly: Pitt is a public school and school funding comes from our state government. Information was provided on how to find where to vote and which candidates support public education (via a website). Small bags were packed full of candy with the notes and hung on the doors of each resident's room in the resident halls. 
Ryan Greggerson, Alec Patterson, Kalie Morse, Mia Brunetti, Karen Patterson, McKenzie Bonar, and Marina Lagattuta (not pictured) packed the bags. They, along with others who live in the residence halls, delivered the bags. 

Presentations During Meeting for PACE

When the state PACE chair is also the PACE chair for your region and the co-chair for your chapter, PACE becomes an every-meeting discussion. Throughout the summer, Marina Lagattuta posted articles, pictures, and memes on our UPG Student PSEA Facebook page. From the very first meeting in August, she presented information about PACE and the need to be involved. PACE business was listed as one of the topics on every agenda for the year!

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Early Bird Option & PACE Raffle Baskets at TLI

University students do not have a lot of extra cash, so raising money for PACE takes some creativity. This year, as in years past, we used our Teacher Leadership Institute (TLI) regional conference as a means to raise funds for PACE. The first way was to offer attendees their first choice of sessions automatically if they paid an additional $5 and signed up for the "Early Bird" option; this $5 automatically goes to PACE. The second way was to raffle off lots of baskets. These baskets included those donated by our advisors and by local restaurants (including a restaurant owned by a member's parents!). In total, we had about a dozen baskets to raffle off. 
Between the Early Bird Option and the baskets, Pitt-Greensburg raised over $300 for PACE (which will be brought to the state conference and donated).

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