Going Old School: Power Vote goes door-to-door at Wayne State

This was written by Wayne State student and Power Voter Kim Siegel!

Power Voters set their sights on the dorms last week at Wayne State in Detroit. We wanted to bring the campaign’s message door-to-door and asked if the students are interested in pledging to vote for a clean and just energy future for the country.

Our purpose was clear: to get our fellow students to pledge to vote with clean and just energy on their minds in this election. Power Vote is engaging 1,000,000 youth-voters across the United States by November 4th, to express that us young Americans care deeply about the planet and are ready to create millions of good, green jobs in a clean energy economy.

The team split up to cover as much ground as possible. After a little over an hour passed by, we congregated to the second floor hallway to count the pledges. We gathered a total of 120 pledges in less than an hour! That averages out to more than twenty-five per person!

Going door-to-door in the dorms was an effective way to spread the word about our campaign and events. Sometimes news does not always reach everyone. Face-to-face encounters are excellent ways to get students more involved. Most students proved interested in Power Vote and willingly signed the pledge. Personally, I had no issues with students refusing to sign. Many students even invited us into their dorm rooms to talk and explain more about Power Vote!

This was  a great opportunity for others to practice and work on the way they address others. Perhaps if the leader did not properly explain the point of Power Vote, the student would ask them to elaborate on that particular point. When they knocked on the next door, they could use their experience from the previous room to explain themselves more thoroughly.

“Dorm storming” taught me that bringing information to others instead of waiting for them to come to you is a very effective method in spreading the word about new organizations. Running a dorm operation proved really simple and successful. The positive responses, pledges and “Green Jobs” stickers on the doors down the hall way are all little victories to celebrate!

Power Vote and Environmental Justice in Detroit

Power Vote canvases South West DetroitWayne State’s campus in Detroit, Michigan was rocked this past weekend when bold student leaders from across the state came together for the Power Vote Campus Storm! Anybody who took part would tell you that it was quite the adventure both to attend and throw together the training crunch that drew in students from as far as Kalamzoo College on the other side of the state!

One of the most exciting things about this training was that it got us out practicing our skills as we learned them. After learning effective skills for getting out and pledging folks, we went out to Detroit’s Eastern Market, the country’s largest historic market district and got over 220 pledges signed!

Personally, one of the most valuable part of this weekend was working with the local Sierra Club’s Environmental Justice Committee to canvas neighborhoods in Detroit’s Southwest side. It was an eye opening experience that taught me the crucial need to build our work around a strong justice focus. It also gave me a small idea about what that kind of work looks like.

Continue reading ‘Power Vote and Environmental Justice in Detroit’


Aaron Petcoff


Aaron is a youth organizer at Wayne State University in Detroit where he studies History and Peace & Conflict Studies. Aaron has worked as an organizer around many different issues including anti-war, labor and prison reform. He currently serves on the National Council of the Student Environmental Action Coalition.

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