Historically, young adults have not been the most represented group at the polls but in this last election, it certainly didn’t feel that way.

Leading up to the 2018 election I was working with Defend Our Future, engaging my classmates to help us fight climate change and making sure young people were getting out to vote. We canvassed, made phone calls, sent out emails, and wrote letters to the editor for papers all across the state of Colorado. No one seemed like they needed much convincing to get out and vote though, which was amazing!

It was really encouraging to talk to people and see just how many were super enthusiastic about having their voices heard. The majority of students I talked with also made sure to vote early and as it got closer to November 6th, it seemed like everybody I’d talked to had already voted.

We had a table on campus on Election Day, and it was shocking how many students were walking around and talking about specific candidates or propositions with their friends. Many were wearing the “I voted” stickers and one girl even told me that she had voted early but got a bunch of stickers so she could wear them every day for the week leading up to the election to help remind others to go vote.

To me, it was really encouraging to see so many young people really caring about what happens in this country and making sure that they did their best to make it better, and I look forward to continuing my work with Defend Our Future, now with a more climate-friendly Congress, and seeing our hard work pay off.

Brooke Sayre-Chavez is a senior at Colorado State University.