2006 National Student Conference

On Wednesday, July 12, 2006, the 2006 National Student Conference was held at the Marriott Wardman Park Hotel in Washington, DC by Campus Progress. The interns from the Center for American Progress were expected to be at the hotel around 6:30A.M., to help set up and prepare for registration for the participants for the conference. I arrived at the conference at 8:00A.M., I had overslept from the screening of "The Trials of Darryl Hunt" the night before.

When I arrived at the conference I jumped right in where ever I was needed. I helped out with registration and other things. I then went to get my badge and it had a red star to the left of my name and I was told it was there because I was speaking at the conference. After most of the people had arrived to the hotel we were able to go in the ballroom to hear the Morning Plenary. I was able to hear Adrienne Maree Brown, Executive Director of Ruckus Society and the end of Reverend Dr. James Alexander Forbes, Jr., the Senior Minister of The Riverside Baptist Church in New York. I did not get to sit in on the first panel discussion because I was helping the attendees and the people that where "manning" the tables. I also had to get ready for the Luncheon Program.

The Luncheon Program began at 12:05P.M. It began with Hollie Russon Gillman introducing Paul Begala, Political Analyst and CNN Commentator. Paul Begala spoke for about 10 minutes and then began presenting the Campus Progress Awards. After he had presented all of the awards, I went on stage to introduce the President and CEO of the Center for American Progress. Once I finished, John Podesta came on stage, thanked me and others and began speaking. He in turn introduced Lauren Patrizi, a student from Loyola University Chicago that was introducing the keynote speaker, United States Senator Barack Obama. I had to leave while Senator Obama was speaking to make sure my panel was set-up and ready when the attendees were let out of the Luncheon Program.

My first panel discussion **The New Muckrakers** was composed of Emily Biuso, Intern Coordinator, The Nation; Josh Kalven, Senior Researcher, Media Matters for America; Justin Rood, Blogger, TPMMuckraker.com; Laura Rozen, Senior Correspondent, The American Prospect, Blogger, WarandPiece.com; and Amanda Terkel (Moderator), Research Associate, ThinkProgress.org, Center for American Progress. During this panel after I had counted the number of people that were in the room I stepped out to finish my lunch. When I came back to panel and at that time they were taking questions from the audience. I stayed about 10 minutes and I told the other person that I was working with for the day that I was going to make sure everything was set-up for our next panel.

The second panel discussion **Beyond the Great Society** was composed of Richard P. Applebaum, Professor of Sociology and Global and International Studies, University of California at Santa Barbara; Mark Greenberg, Executive Director, Task Force on Poverty, Center for American Progress; Jen Kern, Director, ACORN Living Wage Resource Center; Almas Sayeed, Congressional Hunger Research Fellow, Center for American Progress; and Cassandra Q. Butts (Moderator), Senior Vice President for Domestic Policy, Center for American Progress. I sat in on almost the entire panel. It was very interesting and it consisted of three people from the Center for American Progress, where I'm doing my internship for the new readers. When the question part of the panel came up I was the person with the microphone and I chose most of the people who asked the questions. I left around 15 minutes early to set-up for the next panel.

The third and final panel discussion **Is It Bigger Than Hip-Hop?** was composed of Joseph "Fat Joe" Cartagena, Rapper, Actor, and Entrepreneur; Bakari Kitwana, Director of Rap Sessions: Community Dialogues on Hip Hop, and Author of The Hip Hop Generation; Alexis McGill, Executive Director, Citizen Change; Amina Norman-Hawkins, President, Chicago Hip Hop Initiative; Billy Wimsatt, Executive Director, League of Young Voters; and Jeff Johnson (Moderator), Senior Advisor for Youth and Urban Outreach, People For the American Way. I was there to count all of the people that were attending the panel. Once the majority of the people were seated I asked another person from the Center for American Progress to monitor the door so I could go change clothes. By the time I had come back into the panel they had just begun and the moderator was introducing people. This by far was the most interesting panel, because all of the remarks that were made by both the panelists and the audience. As you can see I was able to meet and take a picture with Fat Joe and Cousin Jeff. I was able to hear the beginning of the Closing Plenary, where United States Representative Tammy Baldwin spoke. I used the conference as a networking opportunity. It was amazing for me. While I was walking around during the panels or going to my next panel various people were coming up to me and introducing themselves. I was proud of myself because obviously these people saw something in me and they wanted me to know them. This was an opportunity of a lifetime and I am glad I took full advantage of it. Some of the people I met at the conference will be people I will keep in contact with for years to come.

The video feeds from the conference (I happen to be in a few of them) can be found at http://www.campusprogress.org/common/1005/2006-campus-progress-national-student-conference-multimedia.

Building a Movement: Highlights From the Conference http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9SjqkWEqrTk

2006 National Student Conference was a blast!!!