As Election Day approaches, student groups around campus prepared and encouraged people to get out to the polls and vote.

Shippensburg University professor Steven Burg and students in his Leadership, History and Social Change course in the Honors Program organized an event called Democracy Day. The class spent all semester planning and studying examples of leadership, according to Mary Grace Keller, a senior in the class. The event was held Monday outside the Ezra Lehman Library, drawing hundreds of students throughout the day.

The event was set to begin at 11 a.m., but by 10:45 a.m. there were already swarms of students stopping to see what was happening. Tables were set up with different informative, as well as entertaining activities to get students to think about the election and encourage them to get to the polls.

“We have been planning this event since the beginning of the semester,” said Emily Bach, a junior in Burg’s class.

There was a board where students signed their names to pledge that they would go vote and make their voices heard. Along with this, both the College Republicans and the College Democrats had tables set up with posters of the candidates their party represents.

The event kicked off with speakers who prepared speeches about what democracy means to them and the importance of voting in America.

The first speaker was Sharon Harrow, an SU English professor, who spoke about her personal views on the candidates in the election. She said she had a concern about Republican candidate Donald Trump specifically and the dangers she thinks he would bring to this country. Harrow said he has already caused trouble throughout the election process.

The speakers to follow shared their views on what democracy in America is, how strongly they feel about voting and even shared some statistics about voting to emphasize the point of how our voice truly matters.

“In order to see change, you must be the change,” said Miranda White, an SU student and Student Government member, in her speech. This seemed to capture what the whole point of Democracy Day truly was about.

Shippensburg Mayor Bruce Hockersmith made an appearance and spoke to students, as well.

“As a responsible citizen, it is not only a right, but a duty to know those who would be our leaders,” Hockersmith said. He also made it a point to emphasize the importance of the smaller elections that are often overlooked by citizens.

“The whole goal of this day was to encourage students to get out and vote and become involved in the election process,” said Patrick Hiller, a sophomore student in Burg’s class.

One table had cutouts of the candidates for selfies, one for button making and one for free henna tattoos.

Even though the event went until 5 p.m., the organizers of the event counted it a success as early as 1 p.m.

“The sign where people are pledging to vote is almost full — all of the speaking slots are filled and tons of students have been stopping,” Bach said.

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