After school last Thursday, Mr. Fitzgerald’s room was abuzz with the activity of South’s newest group, The Tiger Political Activism Club, Tiger PAC.  Headed by seniors Elsa Hoover and Sulia Altenberg, the organization seeks to provide outlets for students looking to volunteer for the issues that they care about.

“The purpose of this group is to get students involved in campaigns at a local, state, and national level,” stated Hoover.  This is quite a different mission statement than South’s Politics Club. According to Hoover, the older group is “all about discussion. While we will do discussions, they will be about how we can get involved.”

Junior Gabe Steller, a member of the Politics Club agrees, “We are a purely discussion group. We are more focused on debate and philosophy.”

Looking around and listening to those attending Tiger PAC’s inaugural meeting, it becomes clear that the majority of the group is on the left on many issues, and the ethnic and gender make-up of the group is also very limited. This doesn’t surprise Hoover, “I’m expecting it to be primarily white and primarily liberal. I also expect them to be mostly girls because South is a school that has a liberal majority and the Democratic Party’s emphasis on fair pay and reproductive rights.”

With the wide assortment of issues on the ballot, from the presidential race to voting on amendments to the state’s constitution, on the ballot this November, Tiger PAC has a lot of material to work with, but after the elections will the energy dissipate? Hoover says, “What we’re going to try and do is transition from a group focused on election campaigns to a group more focused around discussion, particularly discussing how students can be involved politically without voting rights and at any time, not just during the election season.