Students mill around the Rabb Room of the Lincoln Filene Center in anticipation of the day's guests for their political science seminar on the Clinton Presidency. They are conversing with each other excitedly as they find their seats. But junior Mitch Robinson has different responsibilities.
As the teaching assistant for the class, Robinson assists lecturer Alan Solomont (LA '70), the former Finance Chairman of the Democratic National Committee, who is responsible for bringing the impressive roster of guest speakers to the class. Today, Robinson is in charge of setting up a PowerPoint presentation on the 1997 Balanced Budget Act.
While he greets and converses with the day's political heavyweights - former White House Director of Communications Mark Gearan and the former Office of Management and Budget Director Jack Lew - Robinson is at ease. It's almost as if he is already a member of the Washington elite.
It's not surprising that Robinson feels so comfortable with policy makers: the political science major is already playing an important role in an upcoming Democratic gubernatorial campaign.
"I'm working as the college coordinator for Deval Patrick's campaign, and the focus of what I'm doing is trying to get students engaged and involved on campuses around Massachusetts," Robinson said.
"It's harder than it sounds because a lot of students, like myself, have other commitments, and so they don't care that much about getting involved in the political system," he said. "Or not as much as we'd like them to."
Robinson's position in the Deval Patrick campaign is a very important one, since the charismatic candidate is running a grassroots campaign that will rely heavily on the college voter.
As a result, Robinson spends much of his time working with different College Democrat groups on campuses around the Commonwealth. "It's a lot of hard work," he said.
Besides his commitments as a student and teacher, the Atlanta native is a University College of Citizenship and Public Service (UCCPS) Scholar. As a UCCPS Scholar, Robinson works with the Boston Student Advisory Council, a citywide body of student leaders representing their respective high schools.
The Council serves as a voice of the students, allowing them to offer their perspectives on high-school renewal efforts and to let their own schools know about citywide school-related issues.
Robinson's job is to help these students articulate their opinions through writing and public speaking.
"What I'm doing this year is working with kids in Boston public schools, helping them with their public speaking. I go to school committee meetings all around the city," Robinson said.
This commitment is one about which Robinson is enthusiastic, but it's also extremely time-consuming: he has to be at every single one of these meetings, encouraging and guiding the high school students.
"I mentor them on how to change problems and policies, and how to articulate their ideas into something that makes sense and people really respect," he said.
Robinson's next endeavor is one that is equally impressive. "I'm working on a symposium, the Emerging Black Leadership Symposium," he said, his voice rising with enthusiasm. "The idea is to bring in a lot of emerging black leaders to talk about black leadership and the black identity."
"But the idea is, hopefully, that it will become something that not just black people will respect - but people of all ethnic backgrounds will realize that all of this is important to the progression of our society," Robinson added.
It's clear that Robinson serves as a leader and role model for many people: from the Tufts community to a governor's campaign to the children of Boston, he is always doing his part.
And he has plans to keep on "doing his part" in the future.
"Someday I would like to run for public office," Robinson said. "I've been passionate about politics for a very, very long time, since I was about two years old. So hopefully someday I will be able to run for office - and get elected - myself."
