This past May I was asked to help out with a Student Body Presidential Candidate’s campaign.  I was not close friends with the candidate, but we did have a mutual friend and so I agreed to meet with him and have him share his ideas with me before I agreed to be a part of his campaign.  After our meeting, I realized that I really supported his vision for Clemson University.  His ideas were solid, ones that I would love to be instated here at Clemson, and his ability to lead an entire college community was evident and so I decided to join the campaign as one of his 15 at large members.  I was excited to help him out in any way I could, but was expecting that my help would be needed in the week of active solicitation before elections, passing out fliers, coupons and candy.  Within a week of agreeing to be a part of the effort, I realized that I would be doing a lot more that passing out suckers on the library bridge, I would be put in charge of promoting him to the entire school.  I saw him make requests to the people who were originally in charge, and get no response and his campaign was consequently suffering.  I decided to take matters into my own hands and to take charge of the campaign.  What was originally meant to be a 15 person team, ended up being a tag team effort between the candidate, a couple of loyal members of the team that agreed to help, and his new manager: me.  We created a facebook group, website, and one member created a really cool sign to put up around campus.  It wasn’t as flashy as some of the others, which may have not worked to our benefit, but but put all the signs in front of any designer and I think ours would have won.  One of the most unique things about our campaign was that we sent Richard out to digning halls, and areas where most candidates were not campaigning so that he would be able to have open communication with the students who would vote.  This was one of the most challenging and rewarding experiences I have ever been through.  I was thrown into a position that I never signed up for and had to make the decision to commit all of my time to a cause that I believed in.  Even though we did not win, it was a very close race, and at the end of the day I was honestly able to say that I was proud of the campaign we ran.   I think I got invaluable grassroutes promotional experience!