C-SPAN bus tour to hit DePauw campus Friday

Saturday, September 24, 2011
DePauw University senior Ashlyn Archer of Greencastle interned for C-SPAN last fall and was on the bus that will visit the campus on Friday.

The C-SPAN "Campaign 2012" bus is hitting the road for its "Road to the White House" tour and Putnam County residents will be among the first in the nation to have the opportunity to tour the C-SPAN bus when it visits DePauw's campus on Friday, Sept. 30.

The bus will be located in the middle of DePauw's campus at Locust and Hanna streets from 10 a.m. until noon.

The tour, named after its signature political program, launched in 1988, will be traveling the country, touring state capitals, visiting town hall meetings, as well as community events to promote C-SPAN's extensive educational and political resources.

DePauw senior and Greencastle resident Ashlyn Archer interned for C-SPAN last fall and participated in its last bus campaign. Archer was able to travel with the bus tour for one week during a trip to California.

As an intern for the C-SPAN bus program Archer handled their media outreach program. She was in charge of contacting various newspapers and radio stations where the bus was going to be visiting next.

"I always tried to encourage them to come (to Greencastle)," Archer said Friday. "They have a lot of DePauw interns, and I felt like it'd be an asset for them to come."

The bus will show students of all ages what they have to offer such as resources for research projects, the importance of education, and civic responsibility.

"A lot of people, especially college students, think that it's all just government babble," Archer said. "This program will really show students what they have to offer and the different ways to connect with what's going on in the world."

The bus tour will allow visitors to learn about things such as C-SPAN's in-depth political event coverage, web offerings, and various ways to connect with C-SPAN. The information will be offered using various resources including HD TV's, touch-screen computers, laptops and mobile devices.

"This tour in particular is really an education program, both about the network and education in general," Archer said.

Visitors will be able to see things view archived video footage going back to 1987 through C-SPAN's Video Library and Congressional Chronicle. C-SPAN will use various social media outlets such as Facebook, Twitter, Foursquare, YouTube, XM Radio, and iPhone and Blackberry apps to connect with C-SPAN resources.

As for Archer, she is currently unsure of what her life after college will hold. It is her hope to work for a non-profit organization that could combine her degree and her experience at C-SPAN. But she hasn't decided anything as of yet.

For more information on the visit to DePauw, persons may contact Dave Bohmer at 658-4467. To follow the bus campaign, visit www.c-span.org/Campaign 2012.

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