CASPER — Mya Hager from Casper visited the Turning Point USA website a month ago and clicked the button to join or start a chapter.
The former Kelly Walsh High School student attended Casper College during her senior year and is currently a freshman pursuing a degree in political science.
“I was struggling in a lot of my classes with the material that was being taught, and I felt there were a lot of things baked into the textbook that weren’t necessarily the only perspective,” she told me. “I simply felt so conflicted.
“I didn’t really have a voice in my classes to talk about what I felt was incorrect or (that) there was a different perspective.”
So she looked into Turning Point USA.
Soon after, she discovered that the college had a Turning Point chapter that had disbanded a few years before. Hager began talking with friends about reviving the conservative campus group this year.
After speaking with a regional representative of the nonprofit and getting prepared, they planned to hold their first meeting on September 11.
“Of course, we didn’t realize there was going to be this tragedy with Charlie Kirk,” Mr. Hager added.
Kirk was shot and killed on September 10 at Utah Valley University in Orem, Utah, and the Casper College students called off the meeting because they didn’t know what the next move would or should be.
Hager describes Kirk’s assassination as “really shocking and devastating” for her and friends Clarabelle Ramsey, Henry Powell, and Abigail Davis, who had committed to help relaunch the chapter.
Ramsey would be president of the company, Hager vice president, Powell secretary, and Davis treasurer.
Prayer Meeting
“When we all heard the news we thought, ‘OK, we need to have a prayer meeting,’” she said. “And after he passed, we really didn’t know what the best steps were or how to move forward or what that should even look like. But we knew what we were doing was just so important and it brought a new gravity to our mission.”
That objective was officially launched earlier this week during an open meeting for students and the community. The 137 people who came to the College Heights Baptist Church to honor Kirk and check out the group exceeded expectations.
“We really expected it not to be a huge turnout,” according to Hager. She described the level of support and those who have contacted out to see how they can help as “amazing.”
At Tuesday’s meeting, 40 to 45 students expressed interest in joining the chapter. The organization is open to both Casper institution students and high school students who attend the institution as part of their education.
The new TPUSA branch held a vigil in Casper’s Washington Park on Wednesday to celebrate Kirk’s memory and passing, and several people came, according to Hager.
Moving forward, the club has plans for the semester, but Hager says there are still doubts as the parent organization works things out. They are in contact with Turning Point USA’s regional field representative and also receiving assistance from the University of Wyoming’s TPUSA branch.
“Obviously with the Turning Point organization there is a lot of things happening within the organization to figure out how they are going to proceed,” she told me.
Events For Semester
The Casper group administrative team plans to meet once a month and has already planned events for the semester such as a fundraiser, political trivia night, and movie screenings. Some events will be just for members, others for the community as well.
“In November, we are looking to get some speakers to come in such as Chuck Gray or Bob Ide,” she told me.
Gray is Wyoming’s secretary of state, while Ide is a state senator who represents the 29th District on Casper’s south side.
In the winter semester, they want to hear more from members about how the chapter is evolving and what ideas they have for the club and its goal, which Hager defines as “having conversations about big ideas.”
“We want to get people interested in American values and conservative values,” she told me.
The group seeks to focus on “political polarization” issues and, like Kirk did, bridge the political divide. She stated that the new group has already contacted the campus Democratic club and plans to collaborate on “productive and respectful” activities that would introduce people to fresh perspectives.
The group will hold educational sessions to assist conservatives build their own values, as well as engage in discussions with those who disagree.
“Ultimately the best arguments win out when you are willing to have those sorts of conversations,” Hager told reporters.
