Like many Americans this year, freshman marketing student\u00a0Christy Rivera still wasn\u2019t sure for whom she would be casting her vote for in the 2016 presidential election.<\/p>\n
Still, she joined approximately 50 other FIU students on Nov. 4 for a nonpartisan Election Pep Rally and a march to the West Dade Regional Library, the nearest early voting location to Modesto Maidique Campus; the goal was to give students an opportunity to cast their vote on the final weekday of early voting.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m still on the fence, but I have two miles to think about it,\u201d said Rivera, 18, an Honors College student voting in her first election.<\/p>\n
Rivera shared many of the same feelings of the students walking with her, including disappointment with the major party candidates for president and with the divisiveness of the campaign season.<\/p>\n
\u201cAll of it almost feels like reality television,\u201d said 18-year-old freshman architecture student Brian Torres.<\/p>\n
Yet, Rivera and her fellow students still feel the right to vote comes with a responsibility to make informed voting decisions up and down the ballot.<\/p>\n
\u201cI can\u2019t not<\/em> vote for either,\u201d Rivera continued. \u201cNo matter the result, it\u2019s going to be a historic election. I am given the right and privilege to vote and I don\u2019t think throwing that away will do anyone any good.\u201d<\/p>\n The event was put together by the FIU Honors College<\/a> with the help of a number of other departments throughout the university as part of a\u00a0series of events taking place in the day\u2019s leading up to and following Election Day<\/a>\u00a0Nov. 8.<\/p>\n Organizers from the Honors College hope the early voting march and pep rally could be the beginning of a new election year tradition for the university, encouraging students to get involved in the political process and improve turnout among college students.<\/p>\n \u201cThese students are really civically engaged and this is an important way to show our students how important it is to go out and vote,\u201d said\u00a0Lilian Solorzano,\u00a0<\/span>director of Academic Support Services at the Honors College.<\/span>\u00a0\u201cWe are glad we were able to provide an outlet for them to do that.\u201d<\/p>\n Students and event organizers met up just outside Deuxieme Maison building, where they were given free t-shirts and a rundown of the day\u2019s activities. The group walked down 107th<\/sup> avenue to Coral Way and then walked east toward the library with FIU Police<\/a> providing an escort along the way to ensure their safety. Passing cars occasionally honked their horn in support for their efforts.<\/p>\n \u201cWalking out there and doing this together really allowed us to make a statement about how much this matters to us,\u201d said Isabel\u00a0Green, head of career services at the Honors College.<\/p>\n Once they arrived at the library, the group was immediately met by a flurry of supporters for different candidates handing out flyers and bombarding them with slogans as they made their way to the voting line.<\/p>\n After the whole group finished voting, FIU Parking & Transportation<\/a> provided the group with a free bus ride back to campus, where they were greeted with free pizza from the FIU Center for Leadership<\/a> to celebrate.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s great to be able to walk with other students\u2026 making my first voting experience a great experience,\u201d freshman international business student Alberto Garcia said.<\/p>\n