on the hill
ENGAGING THE 79 PERCENT: A Fight Against Political Apathy by Eric Boyer
T
he text was brief, simply an instruction to go to the Puritan Backroom restaurant in Manchester, but it was quite possibly the most important text message that history and political studies major Krista Peace ’15 has ever received. Having just helped organize a preelection rally at Nashua Community College for New Hampshire Democratic candidates, Peace arrived at the Puritan Backroom moments before Democratic Sen. Hillary Clinton of New York arrived. For Peace, meeting the source of her political inspiration face-to-face was the payoff for months of often unseen work organizing events in a particularly hard-fought campaign season. “I think I might have blacked out a little bit because I was so excited, but somehow I kept it together enough to ask for a picture,” said Peace. “I was so excited that my hands were shaking and I botched the first one. Luckily, Sen. Clinton just laughed, hugged me and allowed me to take a second with her. Taking a selfie with Sen. Clinton … it just doesn’t get any better than that.”
This young Democratic Party activist’s high note was followed by a low—an election wave that swept the Republican Party into control in the Senate and increased the already strong Republican majority in the House of Representatives. “Election night was really difficult, an evening of contradictions and intense emotions,” Peace said. “On the one hand, the New Hampshire races I was a part of went well, but on the other, the TV screen would switch over to the national picture and my excitement would evaporate.” Peace recognizes that this is all part of the thing she loves. “Politics is a rollercoaster of good and bad, and you have to roll with the lows to enjoy the highs,” she said. It is to this rollercoaster of highs and lows, victories and defeats, that Peace is attempting to invite the students of Colby-Sawyer. Peace came to New Hampshire from Santa Barbara, Calif., to attend boarding school in the White Mountains at the age of 15, and as she tells it, “everyone thought I would go flying right back to California after I graduated, but I fell in love with New
above: Krista Peace ’15 outside New London Town Hall on Election Day 2014.
22 colby-sawyer college magazine