Students gather to watch Romney speech at RNC
Students gathered last night in the senate chamber in the Marshall Student Center to take part in a Republican National Convention watch party of presidential candidate Mitt Romney accepting the Republican nomination. The event was sponsored by Student Government and Politic365, an online political magazine.
Those in attendance took part in a panel discussion featuring several moderators, most of whom are writers at Politic365, regarding the candidates policies and platforms and broke down the speeches made in the final night of the RNC, held only a few miles away in the Tampa Bay Times Forum.
The watch party was part of Politic365s Voice Your Vote campaign, said Kristal High, editor-in-chief and co-founder of Politic365.
The Voice Your Vote campaign is a campaign where we go to schools in Florida and North Carolina to talk to millennials, or young voters, about the issues that matter most to them, and figure out what their expecting from the candidates this year, High said.
Last nights event was focused on Mitt Romney and students opinions on the possibility that he may one day be president
Specifically with the watch party, we wanted to gauge sentiment of what people are thinking about and what theyre expecting to hear from Governor Romney, High said. What are some of the things they would like to see in a leader, and get their feedback on whether or not Romney met the basic test for young voters?
Among those in attendance at the watch party was student body President Brian Goff. Despite other events happening elsewhere on campus, Goff was happy with the turnout.
What you got tonight were those who really do have desire to decide who theyre going to vote for and who are really passionate about politics, Goff said. We got a really good group of students here and a lot of good concerns and opinions on the issues and on Governor Romneys speech and what we should expect from President Obama.
Rachel Perry, a freshman majoring in International Studies, enjoyed the event.
I thought it was really cool, Perry said. You got to hear what other people thought about the speeches, and you had the moderators telling us where the speeches could have gone, things I wouldnt have noticed on my own.