{"id":57823,"date":"2024-10-22T09:55:00","date_gmt":"2024-10-22T13:55:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/?p=57823"},"modified":"2024-10-15T12:49:44","modified_gmt":"2024-10-15T16:49:44","slug":"mayor-reed-fixture-on-emus-campus-inspires-civic-engagement-among-students","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2024\/mayor-reed-fixture-on-emus-campus-inspires-civic-engagement-among-students\/","title":{"rendered":"Mayor Reed, fixture on EMU\u2019s campus, inspires civic engagement among students"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

With Election Day (Nov. 5) fast approaching, students at EMU say that having an elected official, Mayor Deanna Reed<\/strong>, on campus has motivated them to become civically engaged.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"
Deanna Reed speaks at Convocation during EMU’s annual Martin Luther King Jr. Celebration in January 2024. (Photo by Macson McGuigan\/EMU)<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Reed, who is running for reelection this year, has served as mayor of Harrisonburg, Virginia, since 2017, when she was first elected to City Council. She is the first African American woman elected to the council and also the first to be appointed mayor. At EMU she is director of alumni engagement & community connections.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

During the second annual Stroll to the Polls event on Friday, Sept. 20, at the Rockingham County Circuit Courthouse in downtown Harrisonburg, Reed rallied students from EMU and James Madison University, as well as others in the community, to cast their ballots on the first day of early voting in Virginia. The event aims to increase voter turnout, especially among college students, with marches proceeding from the steps of the courthouse to the city and county polling places.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of those students attending the rally, EMU sophomore Elie Hoover<\/strong>, a social work and music major, said that having a local leader actively involved on campus helps keep her politically engaged. She feels proud to be an EMU student, she added, knowing that the school has representation in city government.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI want to do my part because she\u2019s doing her part for us,\u201d Hoover said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the Stroll to the Polls event, as she walked along Main Street toward City Hall with a group of other students, EMU junior Royale Parker<\/strong> waved a \u201cVirginia Votes Early\u201d sign and enthusiastically encouraged passing drivers to vote.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Parker, a business administration and psychology major, said she once believed there was no use in voting. \u201cI was one of those students who thought my voice didn\u2019t matter and that my vote didn\u2019t count,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But interacting with Reed through committees and clubs on campus has shown her that everyone has a voice and a vote, including her. Reed, she said, has introduced students at EMU to political issues they might have otherwise not known about and has also helped them understand the voting process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cShe\u2019s inspired me to become more involved and excited to vote,\u201d Parker said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

EMU senior Kay Pettus<\/strong>, a music major and president of the Black Student Alliance (BSA), proudly displayed her \u201cI Voted\u201d sticker as she exited City Hall during the first day of early voting. Pettus, who organized the shuttles for BSA members from EMU to downtown Harrisonburg, said that Reed regularly works with BSA and encourages them to participate in civic events. She said that seeing Reed and others speak at the rally was a powerful experience. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI like that they were encouraging students and young people to vote,\u201d Pettus said, \u201cbecause it is important and our voices do count.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Students who identify with a political party different than Reed\u2019s say they\u2019ve felt her support. Jason Dwyer<\/strong>, a senior political science and history double major who leads the EMU College Republicans club, said the Democratic mayor takes care to engage with everyone on campus. \u201cI don\u2019t know how many other colleges can say they have a mayor on staff and as part of their community,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Reed said she felt honored and privileged to know her presence and involvement on campus as a mayor has helped students engage in politics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s gratifying to see the impact of student participation in shaping our community and beyond,\u201d she said. \u201cStudents\u2019 voices are not just significant, they\u2019re essential. Their voices matter and have the power to shape the future, and that is incredibly motivating.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"
Deanna Reed poses for a photo with EMU students during the Vote Equality bus’s visit to EMU in October 2023. (Photo by Macson McGuigan\/EMU)<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

With Election Day (Nov. 5) fast approaching, students at EMU say that having an elected official, Mayor Deanna Reed, on campus has motivated them to become civically engaged. Reed, who ... read more about Mayor Reed, fixture on EMU\u2019s campus, inspires civic engagement among students<\/span><\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":302,"featured_media":57824,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5583,14715,17562,5642,4513],"tags":[18240,17812,18238,18235,18236,18239,7474,18013,18241],"feature":[17427,17426,17241,17422],"class_list":["post-57823","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-campus-community","category-campus-life","category-digest","category-faculty-and-staff","category-student-life","tag-city-council","tag-deanna-reed","tag-election-day-2","tag-elie-hoover","tag-kay-pettus","tag-mayor","tag-politics","tag-royale-parker","tag-voting","feature-emu-home-page-feature","feature-myemu-feature","feature-news-feature","feature-news-landing-page-main-feature"],"yoast_head":"\nMayor Reed, fixture on EMU\u2019s campus, inspires civic engagement among students - EMU News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2024\/mayor-reed-fixture-on-emus-campus-inspires-civic-engagement-among-students\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Mayor Reed, fixture on EMU\u2019s campus, inspires civic engagement among students - EMU News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"With Election Day (Nov. 5) fast approaching, students at EMU say that having an elected official, Mayor Deanna Reed, on campus has motivated them to become civically engaged. Reed, who\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2024\/mayor-reed-fixture-on-emus-campus-inspires-civic-engagement-among-students\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"EMU News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/EasternMennonite\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-10-22T13:55:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/emu-wordpress-multisite-instance-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2024\/09\/25183212\/EMU-32-1024x683.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1024\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"683\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Ryan Cornell\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@EMU_News\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@EMU_News\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Ryan Cornell\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2024\/mayor-reed-fixture-on-emus-campus-inspires-civic-engagement-among-students\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2024\/mayor-reed-fixture-on-emus-campus-inspires-civic-engagement-among-students\/\",\"name\":\"Mayor Reed, fixture on EMU\u2019s campus, inspires civic engagement among students - EMU News\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2024\/mayor-reed-fixture-on-emus-campus-inspires-civic-engagement-among-students\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2024\/mayor-reed-fixture-on-emus-campus-inspires-civic-engagement-among-students\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/emu-wordpress-multisite-instance-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2024\/09\/25183212\/EMU-32.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-10-22T13:55:00+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/4d24e9770fdab8276fbcf29504123fdf\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2024\/mayor-reed-fixture-on-emus-campus-inspires-civic-engagement-among-students\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2024\/mayor-reed-fixture-on-emus-campus-inspires-civic-engagement-among-students\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2024\/mayor-reed-fixture-on-emus-campus-inspires-civic-engagement-among-students\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/emu-wordpress-multisite-instance-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2024\/09\/25183212\/EMU-32.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/emu-wordpress-multisite-instance-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2024\/09\/25183212\/EMU-32.png\",\"width\":1536,\"height\":1024},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2024\/mayor-reed-fixture-on-emus-campus-inspires-civic-engagement-among-students\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Mayor Reed, fixture on EMU\u2019s campus, inspires civic engagement among students\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/\",\"name\":\"EMU News\",\"description\":\"News from the Eastern Mennonite University community.\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/4d24e9770fdab8276fbcf29504123fdf\",\"name\":\"Ryan Cornell\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Mayor Reed, fixture on EMU\u2019s campus, inspires civic engagement among students - EMU News","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2024\/mayor-reed-fixture-on-emus-campus-inspires-civic-engagement-among-students\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Mayor Reed, fixture on EMU\u2019s campus, inspires civic engagement among students - EMU News","og_description":"With Election Day (Nov. 5) fast approaching, students at EMU say that having an elected official, Mayor Deanna Reed, on campus has motivated them to become civically engaged. Reed, who","og_url":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2024\/mayor-reed-fixture-on-emus-campus-inspires-civic-engagement-among-students\/","og_site_name":"EMU News","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/EasternMennonite","article_published_time":"2024-10-22T13:55:00+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1024,"height":683,"url":"https:\/\/emu-wordpress-multisite-instance-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2024\/09\/25183212\/EMU-32-1024x683.png","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"Ryan Cornell","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@EMU_News","twitter_site":"@EMU_News","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Ryan Cornell","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2024\/mayor-reed-fixture-on-emus-campus-inspires-civic-engagement-among-students\/","url":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2024\/mayor-reed-fixture-on-emus-campus-inspires-civic-engagement-among-students\/","name":"Mayor Reed, fixture on EMU\u2019s campus, inspires civic engagement among students - EMU News","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2024\/mayor-reed-fixture-on-emus-campus-inspires-civic-engagement-among-students\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2024\/mayor-reed-fixture-on-emus-campus-inspires-civic-engagement-among-students\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/emu-wordpress-multisite-instance-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2024\/09\/25183212\/EMU-32.png","datePublished":"2024-10-22T13:55:00+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/4d24e9770fdab8276fbcf29504123fdf"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2024\/mayor-reed-fixture-on-emus-campus-inspires-civic-engagement-among-students\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2024\/mayor-reed-fixture-on-emus-campus-inspires-civic-engagement-among-students\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2024\/mayor-reed-fixture-on-emus-campus-inspires-civic-engagement-among-students\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/emu-wordpress-multisite-instance-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2024\/09\/25183212\/EMU-32.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/emu-wordpress-multisite-instance-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2024\/09\/25183212\/EMU-32.png","width":1536,"height":1024},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2024\/mayor-reed-fixture-on-emus-campus-inspires-civic-engagement-among-students\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Mayor Reed, fixture on EMU\u2019s campus, inspires civic engagement among students"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/#website","url":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/","name":"EMU News","description":"News from the Eastern Mennonite University community.","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/4d24e9770fdab8276fbcf29504123fdf","name":"Ryan Cornell"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57823","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/302"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=57823"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57823\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":57870,"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57823\/revisions\/57870"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/57824"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=57823"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=57823"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=57823"},{"taxonomy":"feature","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/feature?post=57823"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}