Hello!
I’m a senior at St. Cloud State University who will be graduating this May (yay!). I am an Applied Sociology major and am so happy I get to spend my final semester working with Students United on improving higher education in areas of college affordability, retention, addressing sexual assault on campuses, and teaching students how to advocate for themselves and their fellow student bodies. Their commitment to work on these issues is what inspired me, despite my lack of government background, to become involved with Students United!
When I am not interning, I am in St. Cloud taking classes, working, or volunteering. I have worked as a high school speech coach and judge for four years now at Tech High School in St. Cloud. It has been so rewarding despite having to wake up at 4:30 a.m. almost every Saturday morning during spring semester. At SCSU I have been involved with theatre, choir, Relay for Life and Students Organized for Change. Students Organized for Change is a group I helped found my sophomore year with four other classmates and our faculty advisor in the Sociology department. I have been the co-chair of SOC Club for over a year now, and we have more than doubled our numbers and have students from a variety of majors since our start. Most of what we do involves volunteering and/or grassroots organizing on campus and in the community. We speaking out against issues that matter to us like supporting women, the LGBTQ+ community, immigrants and refugees, and tackling climate change.
Lt. Governor Tina Smith and Maddy Wegener after a panel on college affordability
Grassroots organizing is a passion of mine, and I have been able to work with the Greater Minnesota Worker’s Center and the Sierra Club’s ‘Beyond Coal’ campaign as a volunteer organizer. After I graduate I am hoping to take a gap year before applying to graduate school for public policy. Students United is such a fun place, and as a student I could not imagine a more passionate, capable and kind group of people to be representing Minnesota State students. This internship is teaching me so much, and I am so grateful for the opportunity to learn more about government relations while helping students in higher education.
Other fun facts about me are that I work at a berry farm in the summer, I have two younger siblings, I own multiple puppets, in the last two years I have taken karate lessons, have ballroom dance lessons, been involved briefly in a hip hop dance crew, and saw the world’s largest rubber duck. My favorite thing to eat is Indian food, and my favorite thing to pet is my roommate’s cat Toby.
If you have any other questions regarding my work at Students United, or my puppets, you can email me at: mwegener@studentsunited.org.
Best,
Maddy Wegener