Virginia21: The Voice of a Generation
Charles Stish, staff writer
During this time of political and economic strife for our country’s higher education system, millennial college students may find themselves wondering if there is anyone in our political system that advocates and works to create benefits for them in the education system. Virginia21 is a group of those certain individuals.
“We’re the only true generational advocate that is non-partisan. Our focus is to help pass legislations that benefit us and oppose legislation that will have negative consequences,” said Tim Cywinski, Virginia21’s communication director, during PVCC’s Virginia21 chapter meeting on Jan. 25, 2017.
Cywinski has been the Communications Director of Virginia21 for a little over a year. He has a Bachelor degree in Political Science and with a minor in International Relations and Affairs. Cywinski visited the PVCC chapter of Virginia21 as a guest speaker to discuss the goals and functions of Virginia21 as a whole.
During his presentation, Cywinski explained lobbying and the legislative process that Virginia21 often takes part in. The process, in general, makes the lobbying party gather information to persuade and convince legislators to pass acts that will benefit the lobbying party. The focus of Virginia21’s lobbying campaign this year is on budget cuts in higher education systems and on-campus sexual assaults.
To gather the general consensus of college students across the state, Virginia21 has connections in the Council of Higher Education of Virginia and the higher education community. They also hold monthly Student Leadership Community meetings where those in the various Virginia21 chapters meet to discuss whatever relevant topic is at hand.
“These relationships help us monitor legislations and policy, but also decide on a consensus of where we should focus,” said Cywinski.
It has passed several legislations including the Virginia Guaranteed Assistance Program (VGAP), which increased the amount of financial aid by just under $50 million.
As of now, PVCC is the only community college to have a Virginia21 chapter, and PVCC Chapter President Grayson Katzenbach can be thanked for that.
“We actually reactivated the PVCC chapter last semester. It was dormant for a few years, but after taking the SLI (Summer Leadership Institute), we reactivated it. We have a lot of members, and we affected a lot with the general election. But this semester we really want to let students know that being involved in politics does not mean you have to go into it as a career. We want to help students understand that politics is a everyday thing,” stated Katzenbach.
On the local level, PVCC’s Virginia21 chapter is advocating for increasing campus security, creating a PVCC scholarship for domestic violence and sexual assault survivors, and lobbying against current PVCC budget cuts.
If you would like to learn more about Virginia21 and participate with the organization both on campus and as a whole, you can contact Katzenbach at her email: gk242@email.vccs.edu or visit Virginia21’s website: www.virginia21.org.
