In every NYPIRG meeting, the interns were assigned to do phone banking. No, it’s not the phone banking where you manage your money through the phone. This was the phone banking that relates to the campaign. Phone banking in activist terms means campaigning to voters using the phone. The way phone banking works during the nypirg program was sending you a link with our City TECH email of all the students in campus names, their phone numbers, different colors highlighting the student’s names to indicate the interns who to call, and a script on what to say to the students based on whatever topic or campaign issue we’re trying to address about to the students.

During our first week assignment of phone banking, Jenna my supervisor assigned the interns to call campus students at City TECH about joining the NYPRIG program. I remembered doing it. It was nerve-wracking, awkward, and very time-consuming knowing that you have to spend a good 2-3 hours on the phone trying to convince 150 students to be part of the NYPIRG program. Also, getting used to the fact that students will not pick up the phone as well as hanging up the phone on you. Overtime after doing multiple phone banking on different issues, I was more comfortable, and more confident in making phone calls to students and government officials no matter how good or how bad the outcome is when it comes to persuading other individuals to support the cause. As long as I was able to do the assignment as well as getting the message across, that’s the only thing that matters.