Although there are still two weeks left in our program, last Friday was the culmination for much of our civic engagement journey. CAUSE’s Summer Soirée: a place to celebrate the efforts our staff has undergone in the past year for their mission in advancing AAPI equity.
Throughout our time at CAUSE, we’ve met countless individuals who have taught us about campaigning. Whether that’s through learning indirectly from their stories or directly from their workshops, our cohort has completely transformed our understanding of how campaigns work, from the messaging to the marketing to the logistics. Additionally, during this time, we’ve been diligently at work on two competing mock campaigns, simulating what it would actually be like for a candidate to run for California Assembly District 49’s Assemblymember. This mock campaign, although fictional, had a tremendous amount of work put into it, so that our interns could learn about this civic engagement process through hands-on experience. We went into the real community, planned out comprehensive policies, and underwent an endorsement panel conducted by experienced professionals.
Intern Haley Ku and her campaign team pose for a picture
Soirée was the summit of all of those efforts. At this point, we had already done much that there was to do. Our materials were printed, our talking points were constructed, and we knew that, regardless of outcome, we had made each other proud with our dedication to the project. At the event, almost all those individuals that came to speak with us, these familiar faces who were somewhat aware of this campaign project, but as excited as the CAUSE staff were to see the final results come to fruition. It was so amazing engaging with these individuals, catching up about what happened since we last saw each other, and executing the planned talking points when they would eventually ask, “so what are these campaign things that I’m seeing all over Soirée?”
2024 CLA interns after the results of the mock election
At the conclusion of the event, it was announced that the campaign team I was a part of ended up mustering a majority of the votes. The victory was exciting, but it was our efforts the many weeks before the actual event that made this experience really fulfilling. Just as the host office placement of our internship teaches us valuable lessons through hands-on learning, this campaign experience was able to teach us civic engagement through working with each other, as opposed to the lectures we are used to attending as students. There are only two weeks left, but already I have felt so much growth during this internship journey.
The views and opinions expressed in this publication are those of the author and do not reflect the views or positions of CAUSE or the CAUSE network.
Written by Jianhao Cui, Leadership Academy 2024 Intern.
The CAUSE Leadership Academy (CLA) for students is a nine-week, paid, internship program that prepares college undergraduates to lead and advocate for the Asian Pacific Islander community on their campuses and beyond.