The College Fix

Group helps college students ‘come together to solve problems’ co-founder says

A new group called “Common Ground Campus” is working to help students “blaze a path toward restoring civility by hosting unique events.”

“It replaces contentious debate with bridging the divide… [through] [p]owerful communication and dynamic collaboration,” according to its website.

The co-founders provided further information to The College Fix about the goals and programming of the group.

Felisa Blazek and Brent Hamachek founded the organization “to help young people engage constructively, think critically, and come together to solve problems instead of argu[ing] about differences,” Hamachek (pictured) told The Fix via email.

He is also involved in conservative political work as an executive with Human Events and advised Turning Point USA.

Common Ground “is dedicated to teaching young people how to find their own voice and express it in a positive manner on social media and in their lives,” Hamachek said.

The pair wanted “to encourage common sense conversations again” and have “young students talking to each other, for THEIR voices to be heard,” Blazek also wrote. “[It] has been tremendously helpful because younger generations influence many generations above them.”

She wrote further:

[At our events, students] came to an understanding, in real time, that their experiences on campus were the result of self-segregation, out of comfort and familiarity: What had been familiar to them, as they adjusted at the University as their home away from home. It took allot [sic] of courage, honesty, and willingness to try.

These events are hosted through the BridgeWorks program as part of the AmeriCan250 initiative. It features events like border and beach clean-ups and pop-up cinemas.

On Saturday April 12, Common Ground hosted a beach clean-up in the north side of Chicago neighborhood of Rogers Park. Students from nearby Northwestern University, which borders Rogers Park, and from Loyola University, which is in the neighborhood, joined together to clean up the beach.

This event aligns with the BridgeWorks program initiative that trains students to become future leaders through mentorship programs, a vodcast, a virtual recording studio, and contests.

“Imagine a story so powerful it ignites the American spirit—amongst an electrifying collection of other modern heroes, ordinary folks who seized their freedoms and forged extraordinary lives… freedom isn’t given, it’s taken,” the website reads.

Hamachek shared a story about a student in Ohio that was so inspired by this program she started a judgment-free open discussion group at her school.

“Now that’s success!” Hamachek said.

The program and initiative are hosted under the Red, White, n’ Blue Tour, which seeks to support unifying campaigns and foster civil discourse.

“We hope as more and more people begin to unify in the spirit of finding common values, that subsides the anticipated fear of perceived differences over beliefs,” Blazek said.

Hamachek added that “[Students should] take a breath, stop for a moment, and listen for a bit longer to students with opposing views.”

“Our young people are byproducts of two great societal transgressions. The first is… [w]e have made everything political,” he wrote.

“The second is that we have equated people agreeing with us on issues as being the ‘good people and people who disagree with us as being ‘bad people.’ In reality, there’s virtually no connection between someone’s positions on issues and what kind of person they truly are day to day.”

Editor’s note: Hamachek and College Fix Associate Editor Matt Lamb previously collaborated on writing projects at Turning Point USA.

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IMAGE CAPTION AND CREDIT: Brent Hamachek discusses Common Ground Campus on Newsmax; Newsmax

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