From the president
Vincent Caminneci is a first-year student at Northampton Community College and has served as a student leader in creating a culture of voting on and off campus as a part of our NCC Votes team in partnership with the National Andrew Goodman Foundation's Vote Everywhere program. For the last year, Vincent has worked closely with our team to register students to vote, educate them on ballot-related issues, and help ensure all students' access to the ballot box. In the community, Vincent continues to lead by example in supporting civic engagement by serving as a fellow with the New Pennsylvania project, a non-partisan group, registering voters throughout Northampton County, and volunteering as a Judge of Elections for Easton Precinct 10 Western. Vincent systematically seeks out ways to address barriers to voting by leveraging our NSLVE data to create targeted voter education efforts towards specific student populations and assisting us in securing the Roll to the Polls grant to help students without transportation reach the polls on election day.
Personal Statement
I grew up with the wild idea of escaping poverty and following in the footsteps of my grandmother, who marched in Selma, by fighting for the downtrodden and empowering the less fortunate. I saw this as the message and the intention of many political leaders, but I then learned that many only intend to say, but not do. I’ve worked with political campaigns, involved myself in my community, done extensive research, and seen much in my short life. Through these experiences, I’ve come to the conclusion that democracy, as a concept and an institution, is in danger, and for a good reason. My peers and I have seen wars and governmental failure supplemented by monopolization, corruption, and rugged individualism. We have good reason to lack faith in a system that produces such sharp and, frankly, unfair divides among people, based on class, race, and sex. Recently, I’ve volunteered at my local farmers market, assisted political campaigns for local and state candidates, and registered many voters, but I’m not done yet. We must work towards a democracy where politicians are accountable in and out of their legislative chambers to working-class families and individuals across the country.