Besides being the headquarters of the amazing Towson Energy Activists, Towson, Maryland is also the hometown of Olympic gold medalist Michael Phelps. Normally this piece of information wouldn’t matter but on October 4th the city of Towson organized a big parade in his honor. Being resourceful organizers, our plan was plain and simple; use this massive and energetic crowd of students and community members to talk about clean energy and the upcoming election!
York Rd was lined with people. Our first pledge signers were a group of cheerleaders marching in the parade. As we made our way down the street we encountered familiar faces and some unfamiliar ones. Among the organizations in support of the PowerVote platform were the Campus Activities Board, Circle K, the Student Government Association and the sorority Phi Mu.
To our surprise, the parade featured many elected officials from the state of Maryland. Delegate Steve Lafferty, Senator Jim Brochin, Congressman Ruppersberger, and Senator Ben Cardin all made an appearance at the parade. (Hopefully they saw our green t-shirts and the PowerVote gear!) By the end of the parade we had collected hundreds of pledges and engaged the Towson community on green jobs, a clean energy economy and holding elected officials accountable.
This is only the beginning of Towson’s plan for the PowerVote National Challenge Week! For the Challenge Week the Towson Energy Activists plan to be visible at Homecoming events like the annual QSU Drag Show to connect with as many students as possible before they vote on November 4th.
Yay TEA! Great job again on the Drag Show! 200 Power Vote pledges in 2 hours has to be a record! And when we started this campaign I never imagined that I would hear a Drag Queen give a Power Vote shout out