T - 2 hours: I entered the CAUSE office not knowing what I’d be in store for for the day. All I knew was that I would have to answer a few questions for the day’s first event. Then, it was time for Godfrey Plata to go through the basics and expectations for the Endorsement Panel. As he helped prepare us for this event, I began to feel stressed and doubtful of my capabilities.
T - 10 minutes: I felt my heart beating rapidly as I stood in the printing area adjacent to the conference room where I would soon be questioned by a 4-person mock endorsement panel alongside Nicole Iwamasa. Normally, I don’t get stressed about daunting tasks until right before (or at least I try to tell myself that!), but observing the completely dark room with the light only illuminating the interviewers felt like the interrogation scenes I’d see in the movies.
T - 5 minutes: I scurried back to where everyone else was preparing for today’s events and reviewed the campaign platforms. I began to feel the pressure on my shoulders as I tried to memorize and review all our campaign policies and positions as fast as humanly possible as we made our way over to the conference room. When I first entered the room, I tried to cast all worries aside and be as confident as possible (after all I wore my red blazer for that reason!).
Mock endorsement panel time: When they asked their first questions, I felt myself stumble. As someone who is not the best on-the-spot thinker, I worried this would be the case all throughout. I pushed away my worries and self-doubt yet again and continued to be my most confident self. Question after question, I eventually found my rhythm to deliver the answers I had been preparing for the past few hours. When the panel asked questions that were all somehow the campaign’s weak spots, I was thrown off and had many moments of slight internal panic. While I had prepared to answer questions relevant to our campaign policies (which were about environmentalism and affordable housing), I was not prepared to answer questions regarding if our campaign wanted to abolish the police or our stance on abortions. In those moments, I felt that the best way to answer was to be honest.
Post mock endorsement panel: While it was a mock endorsement panel, it felt very real. The second the panel left to discuss their decision on whether to endorse our campaign or not, I felt a huge sigh of relief. While this event was certainly out of my comfort zone, it was very rewarding to learn from and undergo this experience. It was especially fulfilling as I proved to myself that I could do and be successful at things that challenge and scare me. When the panel finally returned and announced we gained their endorsement by a vote of 3-1, I just felt a smile on my face.
