The Campaigner
By Judson Mead
On February 20, 2016, two weeks after becoming a U.S. citizen, Hector Chaidez Ruacho caucused for Bernie Sanders in his Nevada primary contest with Hillary Clinton. Later, he was named a county delegate to the state Democratic convention.
He’d moved with his family from Guadalajara, Jalisco in Mexico to Las Vegas when he was six years old. He vividly remembers the trauma of starting a new school in a new culture. He was afraid to open his mouth in class because his English was still rudimentary.
A dozen years later, after becoming a voluble college student, he was attracted to Sanders' stance on human rights and signed up as a volunteer. “In a few months, I went from 0-100 in political engagement—from no involvement to being as involved as possible,” said Chaidez Ruacho.
In 2019, Chaidez Ruacho campaigned for Sanders again. After attending the CRISP Political Boot Camp (see page 12), he went home to Las Vegas and signed up for the Bernie Sanders Summer School, a web-based training program for student organizers aiming to become Campus Corps Leaders for the campaign.
One of his assignments was to make a 60-second video called "My Bernie Story" to be posted on the campaign app and shared on social media platforms.
As Chaidez Ruacho later told Yahoo News, which featured him in a story about the campaign training, the prospect of telling his story was a little intimidating. But his CRISP boot camp training in developing a personal narrative supported him.
His "My Bernie Story" video is a compelling and effective account of his experiences delivered with confidence. Chaidez Ruacho well exemplifies hoped-for outcomes of the CRISP boot camp training.