“After campaigning for three months for John Edwards in the primaries I need to see the culmination of the year in person,” she wrote in an e-mail.

Matthew J. Glazer ’06, chair of the Undergraduate Council’s Student Affairs Committee, said he hopes to do his part volunteering through Democratic GAIN, an organization that promotes campaign work as a profession.

The group, Glazer said, will be holding trainings on campaign strategies.

And Thomas M. McSorley ’06, who is working for the transportation department of the DNC, admitted that his job had several perks.

“On the selfish side, I wanted a chance to be part of the action, hopefully catch a glimpse of the candidates and the Clintons, etc.” he wrote in an e-mail. “More importantly, this election and party have become my passion. Other than working at the convention, I’m spending my summer working for the Kerry campaign in my hometown in Pennsylvania. I wanted to play a small part in the convention and help out in some way, wherever they decided they needed me.”

Though his volunteer position consists primarily of “driving a golf cart at the FleetCenter for disabled/elderly convention goers and assisting golf cart coordination,” McSorley said he expects to be in the thick of things.

“From what I’ve heard, the conventions are filled with energy and excitement. My main goal is to meet a lot of fellow Democrats who are at the convention and volunteering with me, and just enjoy the excitement over John Kerry and his nomination,” he wrote. “I will be working inside the FleetCenter, so I should be amidst plenty of important Democrats and regular people who are delegates and there for all kinds of reasons. The place will be buzzing.”

—Staff writer Margaret W. Ho can be reached at mwho@fas.harvard.edu.