Staff Writer
The C-SPAN Campaign 2012 bus visited the College Wednesday. F&M was one of many stops on the bus’s Road to the White House Tour.
The bus stopped in Williamson parking lot from 9:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. The inside of the bus featured C-SPAN footage from any of its affiliated channels, dating from 1987 to the present. In addition there were interactive quizzes and trivia questions for students available through interactive TVs. There were also C-SPAN Campaign 2012 giveaways for students, such as backpacks and buttons.
According to Nicole Hoover ’09, co-chair of F&M Votes, a few dozen people visited the bus in the two-hour time span.
“Attendance was sparse, since not very many faculty or staff attended, but those that toured the bus seemed to have really enjoyed it,” Hoover said.
Hoover also noted students did not attend the bus as whole groups. However, she explained the bus also offered a lot of information to those who attended it.
“I hope the attendees learned of another resource to turn to with all their election questions,” Hoover said. “C-SPAN’s extensive coverage of the election, at all levels, is well organized and engaging. I hope the attendees use C-SPAN’s database as source of solid information in the future.”
Hoover also explained the bus had many popular features she hopes will help spur in-class conversations about the upcoming election.
“The interactive TVs on the bus were a big hit,” Hoover said. “I saw quite a few students browsing through Electoral College information, C-SPAN’s coverage of the ‘hot’ issues, and the various trivia quizzes. These were just a few options available to the students via the interactive TVs. I hope this will encourage a lot of class conversations about this upcoming election.”
According to Hoover, the C-SPAN Campaign 2012 Bus was not just a useful tool for learning about the upcoming election but for information about previous elections as well.
“I believe the bus and all the information it showed didn’t just help inform students about this upcoming election but elections throughout history as well,” Hoover said. “I was fascinated by their collection of information on elections all throughout American history.”
Hoover said the C-SPAN Campaign 2012 Bus was an event F&M Votes would like to consider again.
“At F&M Votes, this is absolutely something we would like to do again in the future,” Hoover said. “This is exactly the type of non-partisan event we look to sponsor. We couldn’t have intertwined the goals of our group with the educational goals of the College to any greater extent. It was a great experience, and I hope others got out of it just as much as I did.”
According to Hoover, the College will be hosting more events in the near future to help inform students about the upcoming election and encourage them to vote. She noted the College Democrats, the College Republicans, and the Government Club are sponsoring an event the night before the election aimed at motivating the students to vote on Nov. 6.
Questions? Email Shira at skipnees@fandm.edu.