CHELSEA GARDNER | STAFF WRITER

“Fired up, ready to go!” Those were the words resonating through Riddick 450 on this past Saturday. The reason behind this unification and excitement was due to a well-know guest, BET’s 106 & Park co-host Rocsi Diaz. Diaz and her team paid a visit to Wolfpack nation to campaign in support of President Obama. They voiced their thoughts on the upcoming election and encouraged students to vote. Diaz and her team are visiting various colleges to inform students about election updates and the opportunities they have to exercise their vote. She expressed how important it is to register to vote because, as young people, our voices matter.

During her time at NC State, Diaz shared her stories and experiences as an illegal resident of the United States. She is Honduran but lived in Chile until she came to the United States at the age of 2. As she grew older, she became frustrated with the fact that she could not vote but could still work and pay taxes in America. Diaz also felt like a hypocrite because she was encouraging people to vote, but she could not actively participate. In 2008, right before the election, Diaz almost faced deportation due to the expiration of her green card, but was able to become a legal citizen just in time to vote. Diaz said, “you don’t realize the importance of something [voting] until it is almost taken away from you.”

With this in mind, Diaz challenged NC State organizations to register 400 people before the break. She stressed the importance of power in numbers and how organizations must work together and not as individuals. As a jumpstart to her challenge, NC State has organized a movement, The Students for Obama Chapter, on campus to help register as many people as possible to vote.

To help meet the school goal, Diaz’s team provided three helpful tips to encourage people to vote: (1) Be personable, relatable, and friendly (2) Inform people of how important their right to vote is and what it would be like if their vote was ever in danger (3) Discuss something in the election that affects you personally or as a young person (in other words, do your research!). Diaz said that she would return to NC State in the fall to check on our progress.