Help Virginia Tech YDSA go to Wintercon!

Hello! We are YDSA at Virginia Tech, and we are traveling to Chicago for the annual YDSA Winter Organizing Conference! This Conference will help us connect with fellow student organizers and experienced labor organizers. Through workshops, seminars, and panel discussions, we'll learn better techniques in bring people together, and making a better world possible!

These funds will be used to help pay for:

for 15+ members!

Here's a story from one of our members:

A few weeks ago, some of my comrades and I traveled to Montreal and met with current organizers within the student union movement in Quebec. We met with these organizers all day, got tours of their universities, and listened to the details of what it means to be in a student union. This trip was one of the most exciting, fulfilling, and enlightening weeks of my life. As socialists and organizers, it can be easy to feel stuck because of current events, to feel like we hold no power, but despite all of this, our trip to Montreal has me feeling more excited and motivated than ever for the future of change ahead of us.

The Young Democratic Socialists of America at Virginia Tech are among the most motivated, passionate, and caring people I have ever worked with because we all have hope for a better future for everyone. Because of my experiences in Montreal learning about student strikes, particularly the 2012 strike, I know that we can win, and I know that the current generation of activists can get us there.

Sadly, not everyone in our chapter got the chance to travel to Quebec due to costs, and while we’ve presented and written about everything we learned, nothing can replace how empowering it is to see other socialists who have the same dreams for the future. Right now, about 15 of us are hoping to go, but that won’t be possible without some help.

The topic for this year’s YDSA Winter Conference is “Ready to Strike.” Many of us are leading workshops, giving presentations, and preparing pamphlets on the Montreal student unions and how we can organize for a national strike in the future. Just as much as I know this future is possible, I know that students across the country want their power back.

I’m looking forward to this trip because I know what it feels like to be empowered through learning and leadership and I want as many students as possible to have the opportunity to attend.

Megan McHenry