Renee Phetsopha (BS '18, MA '21)
With a passion for saving the environment, Texas Woman’s graduate student Renee Phetsopha splits her time between registering students to vote and conducting lab research with adjunct faculty member Gustavo Salazar Garza, PhD.
Phetsopha graduated from TWU in May 2018 with a BS in Government with an emphasis in Political Science. She loved her professors and the environment on campus so much she decided to pursue a graduate degree in government at TWU as well.
Phetsopha didn’t start out studying government, “I originally came to TWU as a biochemistry major and along the way, Dr. Timothy Hoye helped me understand that there was more going on in the bureaucracy aside from arguing.”
Today, Phetsopha serves as president of Pi Sigma Alpha, the national political science honor society. This year, the organization’s main goal — along with the Civic Engagement Committee, of which Phetsopha also is a member of — has been to increase voter turnout with on-campus voter registration drives. Working together, the two groups “registered close to 200 people and are now working on getting everybody out to vote.”
Every vote counts and every vote matters and in order to have a functional democracy, everybody needs to get out and vote.
Phetsopha also sits on the committee that organized volunteers and planned TWU’s walk to the polls events during early voting.
“Every vote counts and every vote matters,” says Phetsopha, “and in order to have a functional democracy, everybody needs to get out and vote.”
Their next event, called “Empanadas for Election Night" includes free food and drinks for students who show their I Voted sticker, voter receipt or a selfie outside the polls. The event will be from 7-9 p.m. Nov. 6 in the library lecture hall.
I originally came to TWU as a biochemistry major and along the way, Dr. Timothy Hoye helped me understand that there was more going on in the bureaucracy aside from arguing.
In between registering students to vote, Phetsopha still explores her interest in chemistry. Working with Dr. Salazar, she studies more environmentally friendly ways to dispose of electronic waste and the plastics in them.
In the future, Phetsopha hopes to either work in the healthcare sector or focus on environmental policy and electronic waste.
Media Contact
Christy Savage
Staff Reporter
940-898-3254
csavage3@twu.edu
Page last updated 2:39 PM, November 17, 2021