This year will be the first year that I will get to experience voting for the President of the United States.

I was old enough to vote the last time and the time before, but I didn’t care. I didn’t think that someone like me, who didn’t know a damn thing about what was going on in this country, should be voting.  

Since I started attending Washburn University my outlook has changed. Maybe it’s because I am getting older and now I am paying attention to different things, like news and current events. I think the biggest change is that I am in college. I don’t think I would care as much if I weren’t educated about why I should care. In many of my classes, the professor will reference something about the upcoming election or politics, and I didn’t get that in the past when all I was doing was working in a kitchen or as a waitress.

One class in particular that involves a lot of politics on environmental laws, and laws concerning oil and coal companies. This class, BI203 Human Impact on the Environment, taught by professor Kellis Bayless, has made me care more about politics than any other single issue. Every class period I get so involved in the lecture that I leave class and talk about it all day. It makes me want to vote. It makes me want to protest by tying myself to a tree on a mountaintop and refusing to budge. It makes me care about what is going on in this country and what I can do to change it. It has made me want to vote.

This is also the first year that I have a sticker on my car advertising which candidate I plan to vote for and never before have I had one of those. I was actually debating the decision whether to stick it on my bumper, for a week before I finally decided to slap it on there. I don’t like discussing who I plan to vote for because I don’t like arguing about it or being persuaded to change my opinion. I was only concerned about the sticker because then political people who disagree would try to argue with me – and this has happened on many occasions, I just choose to walk away and ignore the person.

All in all, I am looking forward to voting in two weeks. I can’t just sit in class and get angry and continue not to take action and do something about it. I am going to vote.