AUBURNDALE, Fla. — Adult students at a Polk County technical college had a unique opportunity on Monday — to meet candidates running in national, state, and local races this year and ask them questions in order to be better informed before elections later this year.
- Meet-and-greet held on campus
- School partnered with Puerto Rican Hispanic Chamber of Commerce
- Questions about candidates? Visit our Decision 2018 Voting Guide
Southern Technical College student Heath Mitchell is looking forward to going to the polls this year.
“Honestly, I didn’t even have a big intention on voting before,” he said, "but after being in there with those people and hearing what they had to say, I’m definitely going to be out voting."
Mitchell took part in the meet and greet at the school Monday, where students got to ask questions about issues that matter to them.
The meet-and-greet was a joint effort between the school and the Puerto Rican Hispanic Chamber of Commerce of Polk County.
“The demographic of the students here are a mixture of Hispanic and African American and Anglo," said chamber president Ana Rivera. "But they are your typical Polk County students — citizens that have been born, raised and stayed living here."
Rivera also serves as the master admissions director for the school. She told Spectrum News she got the idea for the event after realizing many of the students, who are mostly in their late 20s and up, weren't very informed on local politics.
“I told them, ‘If you’re going to eventually become an entrepreneur, you’re going to want to know certain things,'" she said. "If you're going to have to have your children in school, you’re going to want to know certain things.'"
After some back-and-forth with the candidates on issues like affordable education and jobs, Mitchell said he feels ready to make his voice heard this election season.
“I think it's extremely important to have events like these, so we can get more people informed about who’s in office and what they can do to help provide for the people,” he said.