Once a month we will be showcasing a student that has done excellent work with our Groots initiative. The Groots initiative is a grass roots campaign to get students involved in building support for an issue by showing legislators how many people a certain problem effects. This month LeadMN is highlighting Charles Karter, a student senator Minneapolis Community and Technical College.
Passion, a simple enough word that is full of meaning, and happens to describe Charles Karter. Charles is a U.S. Army veteran attending MCTC and working towards his AAS in CNC Machinery. In college, Charles is involved in many different environmental clubs, such as the Urban Farm Collective, 3 Legged Frog sustainability club, and the administrations sustainability committee; all of which are intertwined with the Director of Health and Sustainability, the student senate position which Charles currently holds.
Like many senators, getting involved in senate introduced Charles to LeadMN. Since his introduction, Charles has stayed involved in LeadMN because he found it to be a “valuable institution in protecting students, has grown my personal development, and gave me avenues to interact with legislators.” Charles stays involved through advocating events, participating in GOTV, attending conferences, and campus promotional events.
The Groots campaign has greatly helped Charles interact with every level of the government, and has given him ample opportunity for personal and community development. “Many of the LeadMN campaigns are similar. You plan objectives around an important issue, implement the objectives, and then inform and motivate others to support you.” Charles has found that students easily connect to this Groots campaign because spending more on tuition is bad and spending less on tuition is good. Who can argue that logic?
Talking with Charles about the Groots campaign and all he’s involved in, it’s clear Charles has passion for what he does. And when a person has passion for what they do, they get results. The Groots campaign is in good hands with Charles leading the way at MCTC.
“The Groots campaign isn't a silo; it's like the name of our weekly meetings, so it's hard to talk about it in particular. Its identity is fluid. Hence I talk about MSCSA more generally, because everything they do is somewhat intertwined. It's all the same people, and focus, improving the lives of students, be it your own or others. It's been a privilege to be a part of, and I'd like to thank them for the opportunities.”
Do you want to get involved? Sign our petition to tell your legislators to decrease tuition by
1 percent!