Election night for me was amazing, and not because of the presidential election, but because of bond Measure J’s passing. It felt amazing to get the news that the thing I had been working on for so long had succeeded. Many volunteers, KCCD faculty members and interns like myself spent hours trying to get this bond measure passed.

I found my way to Measure J because of Communication professor Andrea Thorson, who approached myself and a few other students with the opportunity to intern for her to gain experience on our resumes. She also would be giving three of us recommendations to intern at the Bakersfield Californian. I’m so glad I accepted the offer because it was definitely an experience I won’t forget. Myself and the other interns worked directly under her. Thorson was the co-lead in the event planning and speech writing.

She was also one of the primary organizers for Measure J. Everyone was extremely passionate throughout.

I remember every time I arrived at headquarters there were always four-to-six people on the phones marking down the yes’s and the no’s.

Nicole Parra put this whole campaign on her back, and we all followed her lead. She and about two or three others not only led us all, but more importantly worked beside us. Myself and the other interns all had a great time working on this campaign.

Myself and the other student interns came in before, between and after our classes to help out with the campaign, which was pretty hard especially since all of us had full-time schedules and jobs on top of that.

For all of us to be as dedicated and hard working as we were to this is crazy looking back, but we were.

Out of all the people helping out, and trying to get this passed it actually affected us directly. We were the students who had to go to BC. This is our college, and to be able to make changes happen, even if it’s just to renovate the school, is cool. BC is way overdue for the kind of renovations that Measure J promises, such as air conditioning in all the classrooms, school wide Wi-Fi, and bringing in occupational training programs, just to name a few. It also offers mental health services to veterans to help them better their education and get back to normal life.

My experience with Measure J was amazing. I met many great people who I wouldn’t have otherwise.

I was able to help better not only my educational experience at BC, but others as well. I also got to enjoy a wonderful rendition of the Golden Girls theme song by one of the many volunteers.

It took a lot of time and effort working on this, but I wouldn’t trade it for the world. Hopefully I get to work on more campaigns in my life. I am definitely excited to see how much BC changes for the better.