How do you think Dr. Hoffman was able to like foster that kind of openness and open communication with the students and with the speakers and the students? And also during these discussions, was Dr. Hoffman the one who was guiding the conversations or was it mostly students or a mix of both? So I think first and foremost, To be able to to foster an environment where everybody feels comfortable to speak, but also comfortable to listen, there needs to be a tone of vulnerability. And I think vulnerability is really hard, especially for me. I know vulnerability is hard, but vulnerability and empathy are required to be able to hear somebody else's side, but also to share your own. You're vulnerable whenever you share your opinion. And some people are more comfortable with it than others. And I think that Dr. Hoffman was really great at setting that tone. She was vulnerable with us when she would share her own thoughts and feelings on issues and her thoughts and feelings of being a professor, being a woman, being a mother, being a wife. She was open with us about who she was and her own experiences. And I think that all gave us the ability to then feel comfortable to share as well. And I think apart from that, it's also incredibly intelligent. Like this is a very intellectual woman who knows what she's talking about. So she was masterful at being able to guide the conversation so that everybody feels heard. But everybody listens as well. She wasn't going to let us all just like Lord of the Flies and go at it and just start arguing over a political issue. She systematically called on us so everybody had a chance to share, but everybody had an opportunity to be heard as well, but to also listen at the same time. And I think that she started that early on in the class in terms of getting people to share. And I think as a college student, it's easy to kind of stay silent and never raise your hand. But when you notice that everybody else is starting to talk and it's gone okay so far then you may, if you're more shy, you feel more comfortable sharing as well because everyone else is doing it and it seems like a safe space. So I think it was a combination of getting everyone to share early on. So that was kind of the precedent for that class. Like this was a safe place for you to share or to ask questions or simply listen. And because of who she it made it even easier to do that in class. Do you have a specific memory or do you have like a favorite speaker, or? Yes. I'll give you I'll give you a couple. The first, which I'm sure Dr. Hoffman knows, I'm going to say as my first favorite experience is when Joe Biden came to UD. Best day ever. Still one of the best days of my life. I have videos and photos to send you, so I will happily share them with anybody who listens. But Joe Biden came and he was going to do the speaker series with John Kasich. And so a couple of favorite parts of the memory. The first is Dr. Hoffman chose me to ask one of the questions. And I will send you the video so you can see them. She told me that she picked me because she knew I would say something quippy, which is true because I did. And I made him laugh. And it was like the best moment of my entire life. So I got to ask Joe Biden and John Kasich a question about bipartisanship because one of the other classes I took, at UD was a congressional simulation class And within that class it was so it was so easy to see how bipartisanship quickly breaks down when you don't agree on things. And so that was just kind of like the heart of my question. How do you overcome those feelings of not wanting to work with the other side? And I can't even remember what the answer is. All I remember is making Joe Biden laugh. [distorted audio] But then we ended up, I think it was three hours at his policy institute on campus. We ate ice cream and he talked about foreign [distorted audio] with us, he talked about the Violence Against Women Act. He talked about Hillary Clinton's presidential run. You name it, we talked about it. And it was where he totally sold me on just being somebody who absolutely needed to run to run for president and why I'm so supportive of him since he's announced his run. The man that I saw in that room is somebody who is, just, you can tell that he thinks about these things very deeply. And he has so much experience to back up his opinions. Especially in terms of the Violence Against Women Act and how passionate he is about ensuring that women don't experience sexual violence or sexual assault, especially on college campuses. And he's just a cool guy to get to talk to. And so I wouldn't have had that experience. Not many people can say they've spent three hours talking to Joe Biden. I have. In my class, there were a lot of conservative members. And I remember us having a conversation about gun safety and gun legislation. But within that class I actually got to know a girl who was part of the Students for the Second Amendment Club really well. And I actually had a couple of other classes with her and I would always then sit next to her because I knew her from National Agenda. And it just shows how National Agenda fostered that meaningful civil discourse in a way that you can still respect the person, even be friendly with them after, even if you disagree on a hot-button item such as gun safety. And so I think that's what that class taught me is that you don't have to agree with somebody to be friends with them. I think, especially in today's political climate, that's so important to remember, but it's also very easy to forget, especially for somebody like myself who gets really passionate about these issues. But when you get in that place of that frantic having to only be surrounded by people who agree with me, I try to remember that experience I had in in National Agenda that showed me that these are just people. They have the same experiences as you in terms of being a student or being a woman or being young. And that's something that you can latch onto to continue to respect them. And even have a relationship with them despite the fact you might disagree on stuff politically. I'm a big believer in saying yes to anything. So whenever I'm asked to do anything at work I always say yes and by saying yes it's led me to different responsibilities and projects that maybe I wouldn't have worked on if I had said no. But because I've proven myself and the other things I've said yes, to, it allowed me to be given more responsibility to run a campaign like this. Yeah. So even if it's not your ideal job or profession or area of interest, is it-- is it still okay, to say yes? Because I guess a lot of people, sometimes I'm concerned about that even, not being the best at something that I'm not super familiar with. Yeah, I know. I struggle with this all the time in terms of like imposter syndrome, feeling like everyone's going to find out that you don't know what you're doing or you don't know what you're talking about, that you're a fraud. But at the end of the day, the only way to learn about something you don't know how to do is to do it. And there's a lot of grace that people will give you as you learn. But being hands-on, in my opinion, is truly the best way to learn. I struggle with it too in terms of not feeling super secure, super confident in something I feel I'm not an expert at. But all of the people who are experts in it became experts by learning, by doing. No one starts out an expert. So the only way to learn is to do it and say yes to it. Even if you don't have all the information, even if you don't know what you're doing.

An interview with former National Agenda student Sarah Fritz

From Stephanie Bowman Doroba February 11, 2021

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University of Delaware alumna Sarah Fritz (AS18) discussed how National Agenda sparked her passion in politics during her years as an undergraduate student and beyond. Laura Matusheski, a UD junior and Center for Political Communication intern, met with Fritz via Zoom in September 2020 to hear her story. To learn more about the National Agenda program, visit cpc.udel.edu/nationalagenda.

Department Name: Center for Political Communication
Date Established: January 01, 2010
Appears In: Center for Political Communication

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