On Wednesday, October 24th, the Lumen students in the Elephants and Donkey seminar had two guest speakers visit the school. Students received information from each speaker, and they were able to ask questions as they arose.

The first speaker was Joan Ballweg. Joan is a Republican representing Wisconsin’s 41st district. As a Republican representative in this district, it is Joan’s responsibility to propose bills that she determines would better the area she represents in addition to voting on all proposed bills and acts. Through this responsibility, Joan presented a bill that she recently proposed, which was organized around her thoughts and what she felt the legislature would approve, while also pleasing the district. More than proposing bills, while running in the upcoming election, Joan is responsible for campaigning herself and ensuring that the public knows what topics she feels strongly about and what she will do to represent her district. Joan has been representing this area for eight years, once being mayor, to now being a representative of the district.

The second speaker was Samir Paul. Samir is a Democratic campaign adviser representing Barack Obama in the elections this year. Samir was an educator before becoming a Democratic campaign representative, and this year will be his first year in this position as a full time job, not just volunteer worker. As a Democratic representative, it is Samir’s job to understand the statistics involved with voting, acknowledge the best people to attempt to persuade, and follow with directing campaigns towards these people and making thousands of phone calls a day in attempt to persuade these people.

This was a great opportunity for students to interact with people with direct connections to the political process. Both speakers opened the floor for questions which led to lively conversations.