<p>I wouldn’t call Feinstein work a small, local campaign. She’s got a national level of attention and voice. (And critics.) And, the publicity budget. Nor would I see working for my own US senators anywhere near as exciting, organized or offering the breadth of issues to promote and defend, as for the presidency.</p>
<p>In general, in small, truly local campaigns, the resources are smaller, organization is looser and so is the payoff. Yes, OP could possibly take on some unique responsibilities, but the context, issues, arguments and etc are so much smaller. The local campaigns are often little more than popularity contests or focused on a few narrow hot topics. They count on enough constituents caring about the particular issues. Or even recognizing the name. </p>
<p>The most “tangible value” is in showing you did hard work and kept up the commitment. Brown bag lunches and discussions are transparent. That’s PR on the candidate’s part- look how much I care. I don’t think an LoR should even be a consideration here- it would apply more for the kid who did the hard work over a longer period. Adcoms don’t care about “names” sending recommendations. There’d have to be something pretty substantial to say, combined with evidence of long term involvement.</p>
<p>I think people here are really looking at the canvassing position from how they feel about the issues and the candidate than on where a high school student will have the opportunity to get more experience, instead of how exciting the candidate is or the positions that he holds. Most of the federal office holders have already closed their applications as it is a month or less before HS close in most states. I offered suggestions for sophomore/junior who just started looking for something for the summer. Feinstein and Gilibrand are just some examples as people here said that they do not take high school students. While their main headquarters in the state capital, and definitely not in DC are already filed, there might still be opportunities at the smaller district offices that the politician has. Or, another option is to check with a candidate in a a state race. You will get experience there as well.</p>
<p>This is an example of some of the responsibilities may involved. It is from rep Smith for the Tacoma office and says college students but a high school student can also try.
"Candidates should have an interest in the legislative process and civic service, possess excellent writing and communication skills, and work well as part of a team. </p>
<p>Interns in the District Office have an opportunity to work in community outreach, constituent services and drafting policy and issue updates. This includes working with caseworkers to help constituents with issues relating to immigration, military and government agencies, among others. Depending on interests, interns also have an opportunity to participate in community outreach, attending meetings and events with outreach staff and Congressman Smith and assisting with town hall meetings."</p>
<p>BTW, I am giving democratic examples, because the question was specific about the Obama campaign. </p>
<p>Regardless, the Obama campaign itself has made it clear to whom they address the positions:</p>
<p>"If I am in high school, can I apply to be an organizing fellow?</p>
<p>Ana1 stop hating. I am a highschool student and will be a Summer Fellowship Organizer. In terms of selectivity, 9-10 new fellows were selected for the summer and 2 of them are in law school. Acceptance depends on your interview and resume. </p>
<p>The fellowship teaches leadership, managerial, and communication skills for the future. It is a once in a lifetime opportunity and the fellows are given high level roles.</p>
<p>Were 9-10 new fellows selected for your state, or where? I’m one now, and I think there are about 4-5 summer organizers working in just my county.</p>
<p>It’s actually quite clear from what the position entails that it is neither something that anyone can get nor your average volunteer position. It’s an organizational position with leadership duties likely far beyond those of most high school leadership positions.</p>
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<p>Admissions officers aren’t stupid. Aside from the description of the position provided by the applicant, which would indicate that it’s not a generic position, admissions officers have this wonderful tool called “Google” at their disposal.</p>
<p>While I doubt many high-school students are qualified for such a position, I think it would be advantageous on college applications–as would volunteering for a campaign, which demonstrates (1) political involvement, (2) community service, and (3) taking action to support a cause you care about.</p>
<p>But it doesn’t matter what admissions officers will think. What matters is whether it’s something you want to do. If you want to do something, do it. If you don’t want to do something, don’t do it. Ultimately, that will look best on college applications. People who try to impress admissions officers end up with laundry-list resumes that reveal little more than a lack of genuine involvement and interest; those who just do what they’re interested in are more likely to have shorter, more focused lists of things they were involved in, which allows people to actually accomplish things. Making an impact is what’s going to help, and that requires you to avoid overcommitting, to care about the things you’re doing, and to be good at them.</p>
<p>Quite the opposite. In my experience (and I used to do a lot of campaign work), local campaigns are usually poorly organized, amateurish affairs. The vast majority of them are not in competitive districts; the incumbent wins in a cakewalk, and the challenger can’t attract sufficient resources to put forth more than a token effort. It’s a little more interesting in highly competitive races, but even there the skill and talent level of the people running the campaigns is often not that great. The best-run campaigns tend to be presidential, gubernatorial, and U.S. Senate races, along with those in a relatively small number of highly competitive U.S. House districts. A talented, hard-working volunteer is actually going to have better opportunities, and better learning opportunities, by getting involved in those campaigns. And it’s just completely wrongheaded to think that the presence of seasoned campaign professionals will squeeze out or somehow limit opportunities for volunteers. There are just never enough resources in a high-stakes, highly competitive race, and volunteers will be given as much responsibility as they earn. </p>
<p>That doesn’t mean it will be handed to you on a silver platter. It means you need to work hard and demonstrate you have talent and political smarts and competence, and can be trusted to deliver. But doing that as part of a well-organized team is a far superior experience to the stumbling and bumbling that passes for campaigning in the vast majority of local races.</p>
<p>If you’re interested in the program, forget about how other people perceive it, and go for it! If it’s something you’re truly interested in, you can make yourself stand out and get a letter of recommendation out of it. Or, it could make a great topic for an essay.</p>
<p>As someone who is completing the fellowship right out pf high school I feel like I have a far better perspective on the values of the program. Each day I organized literally hundreds of volunteers. I ran and planned events. Canvassed. Phonebanked. Had 1:1 meetings with voters and volunteers. I wrote curricula for two different constituency groups. Whatever person said you’d do more meaningful work on a local campaign is very, VERY wrong. I managed a state rep campaign this year using skills I honed with Obam for America. The movers and shakers of Democratic Party politics are here
and and over a third of OFA staff were also in the fellows program. Bottom line-its an amazing opportunity andbif you can get into the program you are in for an educational, exciting, empowering ride.</p>
<p>Along with what ddmtrackstar said, I am a team leader for my region and have worked very closely with my local organizing fellow. I’m in high school as well and my local fellow has mentioned other fellows who were in high school when they got it. This position gives you a ton of responsibility that far exceeds any on a local campaign. It is real-world experience that is truly a great opportunity. If you don’t become a fellow I recommend getting involved with your local team and becoming a core team member. You can do all of this through Dashboard which is a component of Obama’s website.
To those who are saying this position is grunt work, they are sorely mistaken. As said earlier, a fellow is responsible for organizing phone banks, volunteers, canvassing, and more for a large region. In addition, fellows have the opportunity to advance to a higher (paid) position down the line.</p>