 I'm sorry I'm a little bit late, I was having trouble connecting, but there we go, alright, it's working now. My name is Catty Januzzi and I am a senior at the University of Vermont. I'm studying public communications and I'm working with CCTV right now in order to raise more awareness for CCTV and everything that it brings to the community. So right now I'm working with a few other students and it's for a senior capstone project. So I am joined today by Margo Higgins and I just saw that she logged on. I do want to wait just one minute. Okay, so I'm going to accept Margo now. We're not expecting too many people to join the live at the moment, but we are going to be saving this to a reel on the Instagram page for future views. So I've sent a request to Margo, I'm just going to wait. Hi! Hello! It's so nice to meet you. Yes, you as well. Thank you so much for being here with me today. Totally. And I know this is going to be great for the CCTV Instagram. Yeah, this is a super cool project. Yeah, no, it's really interesting. It's really cool and it's important too to just raise awareness amongst college students. You're a student. Are you a student at UVM? No, I graduated in 2019. Oh, okay. All right. I thought that might have been the case, but yeah, were you, so you can start off introducing yourself before we get into anything. Yeah, my name is Margo. I've lived in Burlington for six years now. I graduated from UVM with a studio art degree and an English minor. Cool. That's awesome. So are you from Vermont originally or? No, I'm from Massachusetts and I moved here for school and I pretty much knew when I moved here that I wanted to live here, so I have been here ever since. That's awesome. So I just want to kind of get into it a little bit. So when did you become politically active at, you know, in Burlington? Yeah, my first semester at school I got involved with UVM students for Bernie Sanders and it was 2015, so it was like the peak of Bernie's first presidential campaign and that really pushed me into that whole realm of, you know, student activism and organizing. So when you were, were you active throughout your whole college experience or? Yeah, so I started with UVM students for Bernie Sanders, which ended up being a lot of phone banking in town at the Bernie office and we went door knocking in New Hampshire. And then after that I was volunteering for a non-profit called Headcount, which registers voters at concerts. So I would be at higher ground, you know, with a clipboard registering people to vote. But throughout UVM there was so much student organizing and it was so easy to get involved that I was, you know, showing up for whatever the latest organizing was. And my junior year I volunteered for the Infinite for Mayor campaign. So that was like my first local Burlington, really like political involvement. How many local political movements have you been involved in? I mean, mostly it's been, the main two were Infinite for Mayor and then most recently the Max Tracy for Mayor campaign. And that was my first like hired position for a campaign. That's awesome. So what made you want to join? Were you politically active before you came to Vermont? Or what made you want to get involved in, especially local politics? Because everyone, you know, people are maybe more inclined to get involved in the, you know, higher up, more expansive kind of, so what made you want to start, you know, working locally? Right, that's a good question. I mean, I don't know that I was necessarily interested in politics, but there were so many issues I cared about and it, you know, became clear that politics was the avenue that you answer these questions in or that you, you know, push for rights or all these issues I cared about. So just by nature of that, like I found groups on campus and in town that were working on those issues and really spoke to me. So I sort of just ended up in these places because I, I cared about what was going on and I ended up really loving the Burlington community and, you know, those opportunities just turned up and it was just so obvious, you know, when they do, it's like, oh, yeah, of course I care about that. Like, what can I, can I do? And, you know, you end up being involved in it. Yeah, so what were some things that, you know, sparked your interest that you felt really passionate about that made you want to join, you know, some campaigning and made you care? Yeah, I mean, racial justice is an issue that I care deeply about. And that was, I think, one of the first ones that really pushed me to be involved on campus and in town, as well as housing security and food security. And I remember especially when the Incident for Mayor campaign happened, I had now been living in Burlington. It was my third year, so I was getting a better feel for, you know, what this community is like and what it's like to live here. And I remember when Infinite came, he came to speak to the UBM students on campus about why he was running. And he said, we become leaders out of love and that spoke to me. So much about, like, why you show up and do that kind of work. And it's because you love your community. And if you have a skill set to offer, you know, you offer it. So that's just sort of how it how it's gone for me. I love, I love that, you know, we show up out of love, like we do this love and everything. And I feel like that that kind of answers the question I was going to ask next is why would you say it's important for college students to get involved locally? Right. I mean, that and then also, I I want more students to know that if you go to school here, like you are a member of the Burlington community. And whether you know it or not, you have a really powerful voice. And there's been a long history of student activism in Burlington. And, you know, I think students, I don't want them to shy away from it. I think over the past few years that has has run really strong, like during this past mayoral campaign, I saw the UBM students show up in such a big way. So it's exciting to see that. I also think like I just really found a place in the community through doing that work. And I just think it's a great way to engage with with Burlington and be a part of something meaningful. Yeah, definitely. Were you when you were doing your campaigning and everything, like what was that process like? How did you yourself involved like that? Yeah, I mean, it's I'm trying to think about how like I first got into a campaign at all. I mean, it was really student organizing. It's just strong network at UBM. And once you start showing up a little bit, like Vermont is small enough that people people remember you and you'll get tapped, you know, for whatever the next thing is. And I remember when, you know, the infinite campaign came up, I volunteered to sort of be like the student connection there. And I started doing their social media and doing like fun content. Like that was sort of aimed towards students. Right. And then that came up again. So when Max Tracy ran for mayor, I got tapped because of that same sort of student network and and someone I had known from, you know, doing student organizing. And I got called in to do like a very similar role of social media and more graphic design. And I think it was just sort of like I knew that that was my skillset. And I had sort of made that known. And, you know, that's what I had to offer. And I think it's like, yeah, figuring out what you have to offer and sort of making that a little bit known. And people will will ask, you know, these are all great movements that that need people power. Yeah. So once you sort of sort of put yourself out there, I think it just gets easier and easier to get involved. Yeah, that's what I was going to that touches upon. My next question is if you had to give advice to, you know, an incoming freshman who doesn't really know how to get involved in a community that they're not familiar with, what would your advice be? I mean, first, firstly, the UVM groups are such a great connection. Just walking through the David Center, all the groups that table out there. I know that UVM Progressives did a really great job this last campaign. That's a great starting place to get your to get yourself out there. And I think my advice would be to lean into a little bit of discomfort at first because, you know, campaign work, if you haven't done it, it's new. And putting yourself out there can be nerve wracking and leaning into that and like being able to grow and meet challenges is so rewarding and teaches you so much. And that to me is like, I didn't think I could do phone banking. It's like when you you call voters, I'm so nervous on the phone. I, you know, and then for Bernie Sanders, it's like, that's what they needed. So I showed up so nervous, but if you calls in all of a sudden, you're like, I'm talking to people, I can do this. I care about the issues. I can do this, you know? Yeah. And I think that, especially like in, you know, in current times, like actually showing up for stuff is like a lot less frequent. Like we're usually doing it through like a platform, like really showing up is rewarding and so worth it. I think you just have to lean into that. Yeah, that feeling. So now that you you're still living in the Burlington, do you see yourself continuing this activism and this involvement? Yeah, I mean, I want to live in Burlington and I'm interested in community building wherever it is, and I want to continue doing stuff that I think builds community, you know, and politics is for sure like one route to do that. And I'm going to continue to keep meeting, you know, meeting challenges as they come and opportunities, but, you know, leaning into that community building for as long as I live here. Yeah. Do you see yourself living here for, you know, the next several years? Definitely. Definitely. Definitely. Yeah. Yeah, I know how I would move. Yeah, you're making your mark here, clearing your voice heard, which is what matters. Yeah, and I think it's like another, you know, thing for students is like I think there's a misconception about who can be involved in politics and like you don't have to you don't need to be pursuing a job in politics to get involved here. It's like anyone can and should, you know, have their voice heard. That's how the system works. Yeah, I'm not going to even lie. I was assuming that maybe your major had been something, you know, along the more like political route, but to hear that you're just, you know, it's just something that you care about is very relatable, I think to a lot of people. Right. Totally. Yeah. And I think that that's, you know, Burlington's a better place to live when more people have their voice heard and work together and, you know, whatever it is you care about, whatever realm it is you work in or do like there's an avenue in which politics, you know, can support you. And yeah, so I think anyone can do it. Anyone should should try and engage themselves however they can. And do you have any future plans, any aspirations, anything that you hope to do, any, you know, future campaigning that you I mean, I'm currently working like a design marketing job that I love. So I want to keep doing that. And it's like, you know, and it's still a way that I get to be engaged with the community. So I love that. Yeah, I mean, I just want to keep keep living here and and do community building. Yeah, I want to I want to hike Mount Mansfield. I haven't done that. So that's a goal. But yeah, that's awesome. I haven't done that either. And I'm going to be graduating soon. Definitely. Yeah, it's one of those ones. Everyone says, like, I think once you get to the top, those ones, I'll get it, you know, definitely. So I have one more question and it's have you heard of CCTV throughout your years? I most recently heard of it through working the campaign because of all of the digital debates. Yeah, we're talking about this is just like town meeting TV. Yeah, town meeting TV. Yes, totally. Oh my gosh. Yeah, I didn't really know about it before this past campaign, because obviously the nature of debates and and campaigning had changed so much. But town meeting TV really stepped up to the plate with those virtual debates. I mean, they yeah, definitely awesome resource to, you know, expose more people to town meeting TV. And yeah, some interest amongst the college age demographic. Yeah, I was so impressed to see that YouTube channel. There's always always yeah, something on you can watch some live stuff and some. Yeah, yeah, the neighborhood planning assemblies like that's awesome. That's our next project is we're going to be taking some content from the YouTube channel and downloading it and putting it on the Instagram to, you know, continue to inform people without so they can just stay on one platform. So that's awesome. Yeah, I'm so excited to hear that students are continuing to be involved. That just makes me so happy. Yeah, me too. Yeah. Well, I really appreciate you talking to me just for this quick, brief interview. You are such a wonderful person. I can just tell and I really enjoyed speaking with you. Honestly, thank you so much. Thank you for everything that you're doing for the community and that you're going to get it. Yeah. Well, I really appreciate it. Have a great rest of your day. You too. Thank you.