Democracy in Action: Whitman Students Co-Host Candidate Forum
Ahead of next week’s election, Whitman & Walla Walla heard from 5th Congressional District candidates—and students helped make it happen.
By Zoe Perkins ’25
On Tuesday, Sept. 24, Whitman College co-hosted a candidate forum with Michael Baumgartner and Carmela Conroy, candidates for U.S. Representative in the Fifth Congressional District. The event was held in Cordiner Hall and open to all Walla Walla residents, with simultaneous Spanish and American Sign Language interpretation.
Whitman students Reagan Bain ’25, Ava Brenkman ’25 and Tuma Mohamed ’26 helped organize the forum in partnership with the American Association of University Women, the Walla Walla Valley Chamber of Commerce and the Walla Walla Union-Bulletin.
Asked why it was important to host such an event, Bain says it’s about resisting disenchantment with the democratic process and civic responsibilities. “I think it’s important for us to remember that the candidates we are presented with are directly related to our levels of engagement with the system, and that voting is the first step, not the only, to ensuring your beliefs are represented,” she says.
“Democracy was on our doorstep. It was important for students to experience the kind of hands-on learning that comes from being present at an event like this.
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Kaitlyn Patia, Assistant Professor of Rhetoric, Writing and Public Discourse
An Opportunity to Support Democracy
The audience at the event comprised a diverse group of community members and Whitman students, faculty and staff. Food trucks were on site before the event, enticing passersby to wander over to see what the fuss was about. And faculty from various departments encouraged students to attend the event or watch it online, where it was being live-streamed.
Staff members Nadine Stecklein, Associate Director for Employer Engagement and Internship Programs, and Noah Leavitt, Co-Director of the Career and Community Engagement Center, were both credited with encouraging and supporting the students through the process of planning and preparing for the forum.
Student volunteers from Whitman Votes helped students check their voter registration at an earlier event in Cleveland Commons.
In addition to the students who organized the event, Whitman Votes hosted a table outside the event, helping attendees check their voter registration and assisting anyone who was not yet registered but wanted to be. The club is Whitman’s chapter of Every Vote Counts, a student-led nonpartisan organization dedicated to voting rights education and legislation. They hope to encourage a wider percentage of the Whitman community to vote in the upcoming election.
Assistant Professor of Rhetoric, Writing, and Public Discourse Kaitlyn Patia, who is currently teaching a class on U.S. political campaigns, said the forum was a wonderful opportunity for students to engage in the democratic process. “Democracy was on our doorstep. It was important for students to experience the kind of hands-on learning that comes from being present at an event like this.”
Meet the Organizers
Reagan Bain is a Politics major with minors in Hispanic Studies and English. She spent the summer working for the Walla Walla Immigrant Rights Coalition with the help of a Whitman Internship Grant and is involved with Whitman’s chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine. Those opportunities gave her a strong background in community organizing, which she hopes to continue participating in after graduation.
Ava Brenkman is a Psychology major and Gender Studies minor. During the summer of 2024, she interned at the Washington State Penitentiary, which was her second internship experience providing support for community reintegration of formerly incarcerated individuals. Her experiences inside and outside of the prison have drawn her focus to the societal structures that contribute to systemic oppression, driving her to pursue a more active role in local politics.
Tuma Mohamed is an Indigeneity, Race and Ethnicity major. Mohamed interned over the summer at The STAR (Successful Transition and Reentry) Project, a nonprofit organization focused on supporting formerly incarcerated people in southeast Washington as they transition to community release.
Even as this election season draws to a close, Whitman students don’t plan to wrap up their efforts to engage themselves and their peers in the democratic process. When asked why Whitman students should care about political engagement, Brenkman gave a response characteristic of considerate Whitties: “We must invest, if not for ourselves, for those around us.”