A DELEGATE’S JOURNAL

Editor’s note — Elizabeth Poda, a first-time Democratic National Convention delegate from South Carolina, is sharing a daily convention journal.

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BOSTON — The first official day of the Democratic National Convention got off to an exciting start.

Actor Ben Affleck made a surprise appearance at our delegation breakfast Monday to speak about John Kerry. I believe that he is even better-looking in person. We joked that we are not washing our right hands since he touched them.

The purpose of the breakfast meetings is to learn information and the schedule for the day as well as to pick up credentials for the convention.

While it might sound that these meetings are boring, they are made more interesting with the guest appearances.

We honored U.S. Sen. Fritz Hollings at a lunch at the Cheers bar and restaurant. Hollings has been our senator my entire life, and he will be greatly missed and remembered as a great public servant.

He advised us that if we want to pay tribute to him, then we should elect Inez Tenenbaum as his replacement.

I am honored to be a part of the diverse South Carolina delegation. It is especially nice to have a large number of people younger than 30. That shows that the S.C. Democratic Party is alive and will be for years to come.

It also provides me with a group of friends to explore Boston with and to attend Young Democrats events. A group of us began exploring the historic city Monday.

At one of those YD events, I got a sign saying, “I’m Young, I’m a Democrat, and I’m voting.” This is an idea that I want to take back home to show young people that it is important to vote and that Democratic issues affect us.

Monday night, we heard from Team Clinton (Bill and Hillary), Al Gore and Jimmy Carter. We also began learning more about Kerry and John Edwards and the issues they believe in.

Elizabeth Poda, 24, is third vice chairwoman of the S.C. Democratic Party. The Rock Hill native and Arcadia Lakes resident begins her career as a teacher of S.C. and U.S. history next month in Lexington County.