Students have been engaged in all aspects of this project.   As the Candidate Forum was planned, students stepped up to moderate the forum, do the press and media work, do outreach and participate in the formulation of the questions for the candidates.

The Moderators, Margie Andreason and Lisa Schadler, commanded the attention of the candidates and asked the questions with persistence and vigor.  One question focused on the candidates' commitment to representing the voice and perspective of college age adults. 

"College age adults are often told that “We Are the Future”, but we are rarely represented in Congress and the Legislature and do not have a voice. We see huge financial aid cuts that affect so many of us right here in the community. We also see concerns with the availability of affordable housing, reliable public transportation and having a meaningful voice in the community.

If elected, what specifically will you do as representatives of our age group?"

The candidates answered with a variety of responses but with the restriction of the one minute time allotted for answering, the question was not fully explored. All six candidates on the legislative ballot for Senate District 9 and House districts 9A and 9B were invited. Candidate Keith Langseth was present.  Candidate Paul Holle cancelled  the day of the forum. Candidates Morrie Lanning, Diane Wray-Williams and Paul Marquart eagerly accepted the invitation to attend early in the planning.  Candidate Angie Holle never responded to our repeated invitations, and was not present at the event.

MSUM Social Work student, Amy Baker was impressed with the forum.  She has attended four candidate forums this election season and commented that this forum was the best one she attended.  "This forum was the most important one and focused on important issues", she said.  When asked whether this forum made a difference, Amy responded “I was listened to and that I felt like part of the community".

Concordia Social Work Student, Margie Adreason, who also co-moderated the forum with MSUM Social Work Student Lisa Schadler, appreciated the informality ot the forum. She was pleased that the candidates did attack or bash each other.  Lisa appreciated the fact that the ground rules were followed. She was also pleased that the forum was set up so people could  ask questions about issues that they cared about.

When asked whether this forum made a difference, Margie said “in listening to the answers from the Candidates I didn't feel that there was much diversity in most of the answers, however their answers to the question on Financial Aid helped make a clear decision on who I would vote for". 

When asked what she took away from her experience being a Moderator, Margie said "it was a valuable experience and gave me a sense of power". This public experience will be helpful for her future as she wants to be involved in public policy work.  She referred to how so often students are dismissed and seen as seasonal people "outsiders."  As a student and an individual of color in this community, she experiences feeling like an outsider twice. "It's good that you give students this experience, it makes me feel more part of this community", she said.

The only thing missing at this forum was the presence of the local media. We understand that there are many newsworthy events happening in the community; however the media missed a big opportunity to show college-age adults engaged in positive, community building action. We had a Media Team that developed press packets and were prepared to give interviews and offer the press resources and research. Two press releases and a media advisory were sent to all the press prior to the event. Members of the Media Team called News Directors the day before and the day of the forum to encourage them to cover the event. Even after all this attention and effort, the press did not cover the event. This was disappointing to the Media Team; however, we were impressed with their preparation and commitment to stepping up to the challenge.

The Voter Collaborative is group of nonprofits, students, and community members that have merged forces to encourage people to participate in the democratic process.  The Voter Collaborative focuses on nonpartisan activities to increase voter turnout in the F-M Community.

Collaborative Members include:
The Women’s Network of the Red River Valley, People Escaping Poverty Project, and Freedom Resources for Independent Living, E.V.E.N., The Main Street Project, Pride Collective, Centro Cultural De Fargo-Moorhead, MSUM Social Work Students, Concordia Students, NDSU Students, and ARC of West Central Minnesota, Waking the Sleeping Giant and residents of the Fargo-Moorhead community.

We thank the many college students and high school students who attended the event and thank their instructors and Professors in encouraging them to attend.  We also thank the candidates for agreeing to participate in the event.

We wish to express our gratitude to Moorhead High School for donating the space for the event, and the Minnesota Participation Project of the MN Council of Nonprofits for donating $200 towards the cost of the event.