It's only just begun...

First things first, I met Amber Goodwin, TX Democratic Party treasurer, DNC youth council secretary, and a really cool girl. I'm hoping to get her to drive down to Victoria to speak at a youth rally and so maybe I can pick her brain on ways to get more young people involved. Here's more info on her:

Amber Goodwin is a political activist from the great state of Texas. Amber started her political career on Capital Hill in Washington, D.C. working for Rep. Donald Payne, and Rep. Bob Menendez’s House Democratic Caucus staff. Amber left The Hill and became a Campaign Camp Manager with the grassroots field consulting firm Grassroots Solutions in D.C. In the span of 2 years she helped to train thousands of youth activists, non-profit members, candidates and progressive communities on the nuts and bolts of field organizing and how to win elections.

After leaving Washington D.C. in 2005, Amber joined the SEIU Justice for Janitors Campaign in Texas as the Political and Community Organizer for the historic 2006 Contract Campaign win for over 5,300 working families in the Houston area. She then went onto become the National Convention Director for the Young Democrats of America (YDA) Biennial Convention in Dallas, TX, and is currently a graduate student getting her masters in Public Administration.

Since beginning her career in politics, Amber has worked on dozens of political campaigns across the country ranging from U.S. Senate campaigns in New Jersey to local school board races in Texas, and is a member of numerous national and local organizations such as the Democratic National Committee ( DNC) Youth Advisory Board, Women Under Forty Steering Committee, Rock The Vote, Texas Young Democrats Labor Chair, and local precinct chair in Houston. Amber is passionate about influencing and empowering young people to become and stay engaged, and also helping impoverished or underserved people to have a voice in the political process.

As soon as I got off the plane, all the DNCC posters popped into view. There were ppl to welcome us at the airport, and everyone was extremely friendly (an anomaly in terms of service at the airport). State Rep. Garnet Coleman of Houston was incredibly helpful and interesting, bc the University of Houston is part of his district, so we talked about UHV and the education systems, etc. Ok, now I have to start planning out the rest of the day...