Outside a packed fundraiser attended by U.S. senators and representatives in East Greenwich Friday night, members of Brown Students for Hillary met Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., as they demonstrated their support for her presidential campaign.
Fifteen members of the organization - founded last February after Clinton announced her candidacy - traveled to East Greenwich to enthusiastically wave Hillary signs, distribute campaign buttons and greet guests at the fundraiser, hosted at a local supporter's home. The members were rewarded for their efforts, as Clinton stopped while walking to the fundraiser and thanked the students for their efforts, said Jared Stein '10, a member of Students for Hillary.
"It was absolutely incredible. We were all really excited - I was practically jumping up and down when the car pulled up," Stein said. A native of New York, Stein said he was especially honored to meet the his home state's senator after hearing her speak in high school but never before getting to meet her in person.
Clinton personally shook the hands of every student, Stein said, and spent about five minutes talking with them about her own college experiences, Brown's student organization and the students themselves.
"She was incredibly genuine," said Carly Rush '08. "I've never really interacted with her in that close of a setting. She was definitely interested in us and was asking us what our concentrations were and that sort of thing."
Clinton later sent one of her campaign staff members to the Students for Hillary campaign bus to answer questions about organizing student outreach efforts, Rush said.
Rush recently volunteered with the Clinton campaign and had a role in organizing the trip to the fundraiser. She was able to get the Brown group involved at the fundraiser event through the campaign's youth outreach director, Emily Hawkins.
Rush described the encounter with Clinton at the fundraising event as a way for the presidential candidate to "thank Brown students for the efforts that we've all been putting in."
Clinton also mentioned Brown students' efforts in her speech at her alma mater, Wellesley College, on Thursday. The event launched Clinton's student group, Hillblazers, and its Web site went live later that day. Some Students for Hillary members also attended the event at Wellesley, said Craig Auster '08, one of the group's leaders.
Auster said Clinton spoke about student activism and her own role as an undergraduate on controversial issues at the Wellesley event. He said he felt the event's energy expanded students' interests in the Clinton campaign.
"Everyone that went with us came away with us really interested and excited about her campaign and the role that young people are going to have in helping her become the next president," Auster said.
Though Rhode Island's votes may not play a key role in the nomination process, Clinton has been highly successful at fundraising and campaigning in the state, the Providence Journal article reported Nov. 3. Four hundred people - including Sen. Jack Reed, D-R.I., and former Rhode Island Gov. Bruce Sundlun - attended Friday's fundraiser, which raised $300,000, the Journal reported.
