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>> Stephen Ward
Welcome Inside UNC Charlotte, and to the 49er Democracy Experience.
The presidential nominating convention is upon us.
Charlotte is on center stage, and our University is playing a key role in the biggest event
in our region's history.
>> Betty Doster
The 49er Democracy Experience has been much more than we had ever thought of.
The student experiences have been more vibrant; there's been more of them; they came fast
and quick.
They're so much richer and deeper than we could have imagined.
We got a research grant.
The speakers, the opportunities to have national broadcasts on our campus.
Our faculty experts are showing up in news articles around the country.
I think about the ten students that UNC Charlotte had in The Washington Center, students that
wanted to be engaged in this political process - not partisan, but folks that really do want
to make a career in the political world, or in the communications world on how you present
these issues.
That really got me energized, to hear how these students decided they wanted to participate.
>> Eric Heberlig
One of the things I was most hopeful about was that we would find ways of getting students
engaged in the whole convention process, finding them volunteer opportunities, getting them
internships.
I have really been pleased with the quality of opportunities we found for students with
the Host Committee, with the Democratic National Convention Committee, with outside organizations
like CNN, Fox News, and that's exactly what you want to take advantage of with an opportunity
like the convention being here.
What I hope they get out of it, long term, is how engagement matters in American society.
You know, they're able to talk to some political leaders and political activists and realize
that can have an incredible impact on their community.
>> Dinorah Martinez
The fact that you can make a difference.
The fact that you have the power to appeal to your constituents, and to hear what they
would like for you to represent.
Those humanistic values that I think are very intrinsic when it comes to politics.
>> Cecil Furr
Even if it was the Republican National Convention I would want to be involved for the same process,
to learn and see it first-hand.
>> Kyle Young
You know, yes, this is the Democrats' convention, but, you know, when it comes to the city,
this is good for Charlotte, with economic inclusion and to try and make us a leader
in energy, really try to pave a new path forward for the city.
>> William Chapin
With this experience, I want to see how is Charlotte going to move on after the convention.
How is the national convention going to spotlight Charlotte as a city for possible major events,
like political debates, the Olympics, things like that?
Because this is going to be a big part of the development of our city in North Carolina.
>> Victoria Pisauro
I think we are definitely a smaller city, even though we are growing, I think that there
is a really great opportunity for us to be able to expand a lot of things, help businesses
as well as public transportation and get that moving forward some more.
I think it was a really great opportunity and I think it was the right time for Charlotte
to get something like this.
>> Stephen Ward
Charlotte 2012 may go down as the "Smart Phone Convention," and amid all the widely evident
communication technology, did you know that the content for the official convention app
comes straight from a 49er?
>> Alex McMillan
The first thing that put me on the first major task was to develop the content for an all-inclusive
app for the DNC.
The Host Committee was responsible for a little tab that was just called "Charlotte."
And we went through and I think right now there's 125 local venues for anything from
restaurants, to music, to bars.
Anything we felt was unique to Charlotte culture, that wasn't a chain, and we put this all in
a really neat app that anybody can download for free.
When you're at our screen of the app, you're going to have two dials.
One for the time that you're willing to spend and one for the distance you're willing to
travel from your current location's GPS tracked.
So, once you've plugged that in, we've gone through and put in all of the addresses of
the 125 venues and the approximate time it would take to go to each one.
So, it would narrow them down.
So, if you have two hours and are willing to travel five miles from where you are.
So that's going to narrow it down to a handful of choices.
And you have twelve categories that you can go through, things like farm-to-fork foodie,
there's barbeque and brews, there's for kids, there's just several different categories
that narrow it down even further.
Or, you can just hit "all" and have all the time and distance in the world and get all
125 places.
>> Stephen Ward
Be sure to join us next time as we go Inside UNC Charlotte and the 49er Democracy Experience
for more of the stories from across our University and its role in this historic event
We'll see you again tomorrow.
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