Civic engagement is at the heart of Ramlo's OHIO experience
Maxeen Ramlo is a senior studying mechanical engineering in the Russ College of Engineering who puts in just as much time to her education as she does to engaging in our community. Since she started as a freshman at 51社区, she has been very politically involved. Maxeen worked to register voters through the 51社区 College Democrats, as well as through the Athens County Democrats office, which both communicate a lot to connect campus involvement to community involvement.
Last year, Maxeen鈥檚 involvement with the Athens County Democrats declined as she became the Governmental Affairs Commissioner for Student Senate. In this position, she served as a liaison with local government. She regularly attended City Council meetings and collaborated with the City of Athens and Student Senate Public Relations team to promote messaging to students focused on public health and local business support over the course of the pandemic. Additionally, Maxeen worked with other students, the 51社区 Director of Government Relations, elected officials, and other public officials to prepare to lobby the Ohio Legislature to increase the State Share of Instruction funding during the spring 2021 budget season.
Maxeen also continued to register voters and get voters engaged with politics in the community regardless of whether or not they were going to vote for the candidates she was advocating for.
She says, 鈥淚t鈥檚 important for [students] to get involved in the politics here and they can register, even if they live a dorm.鈥
During Covid-19, Maxeen also worked through Power the Polls and Campus Compact to help recruit students to be poll workers throughout the state of Ohio. The pandemic caused a shortage of poll workers during the 2020 election, so recruitment was critical to preserving the election process and ensuring polling stations were properly staffed.
After being so involved during her time at OU, Maxeen feels that she has gotten to learn a lot about the Athens community and how politics are viewed here.
鈥淚t鈥檚 different wherever you go,鈥 she says. 鈥淚 feel like when I first got here I didn鈥檛 understand or respect how much local businesses mean to the Athens community. Now that it鈥檚 my senior year, you know, I love Larry鈥檚 Dawg House and O鈥橞etty鈥檚 and all these cool places.鈥
As a student and a Learning Community Leader, she learned that these places mean a lot to the local community.
鈥淎nd now we鈥檙e getting close to and I鈥檓 having [students] help out with that. It鈥檚 always interesting to try to explain to students who are still within their first month or two on campus, they鈥檙e like, 鈥榃hat are we doing?鈥 And I鈥檓 like, 鈥榃e鈥檙e gonna go paper mach茅 puppets and it鈥檚 gonna be a ton of fun,鈥 she says, referring to the fantastical puppets made in partnership with Passion Works Studio for the family-friendly parade that occurs in the afternoon before the block party every Halloween.
Maxeen and many of the community members see and benefit from the work she has done during her time here in Athens. She encourages students to embrace every moment of their college life and branch out into the community because a lot happens in it.
She says, 鈥淲ithout [community engagement], we鈥檙e all just kind of, you know, we鈥檙e not connecting with each other as much and learning all that we can. There鈥檚 always great and wonderful things to learn about every persona and community that you meet and come across.鈥