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The College Democrats of Seton Hall were awarded Chapter of the Year by the College Democrats of New Jersey at the first “Preparing to Lead” Convention on Feb. 13.
Student Democrats from across New Jersey met at Princeton University that Saturday for a joint collaboration between the New Jersey High School Democrats, College Democrats of New Jersey (CDNJ), and New Jersey Young Democrats, according to the NJ Young Democrats website. Through networking and educational opportunities and influential speakers, the convention fostered the next generation of political leaders.
Anthony Antonini, president of Seton Hall’s College Democrats, alongside vice president Demetrius Terry, treasurer Angela Dunne and social media director Ajiya Doka, attended the conference.
“There were a lot of different representatives there who did sessions on what it means to be a young Democrat and how we can get our voices heard,” Antonini said. “I thought it was great.”
Antonini described how Seton Hall’s College Democrats won Chapter of the Year at the convention.
“Out of all the chapters in the state, CDNJ said that we were the most involved on campus and in the community and that we deserved recognition for that,” he said.
Terry said in an email interview that the conference focused on how younger generations have become an important part of the Democratic Party and have the potential to change the future.
“This convention aims to energize the next generation of political leaders and highlight the growth that our three Democratic youth organizations have experienced in the lead-up to the presidential election in November,” he said.
The conference had a total of 13 speakers featuring keynote speaker Congresswoman Bonnie Watson Coleman, representative for New Jersey’s 12th Congressional District.
Students also attended an information session on the presidential campaigns for the Democratic Party. New Jersey Organizer for Hillary for America, Kelly Stewart Maer, spoke about Clin
ton’s campaign alongside John Wisniewski, New Jersey Chair for Bernie 2016, who spoke about Bernie Sanders’ campaign.
“We have great plans to continue to engage college age voters,” Terry said. “Over the course of weeks, we will be determining what the most effective way is to get college-age voters involved.”
Hunter Desimone can be reached at hunter.desimone@student.shu.edu.
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