Meet Maggie

We asked our Summer 2018 intern, Maggie Horzempa, for her thoughts on NeW and conservatism. Maggie is a senior at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, where she studies philosophy and political science.

How did you hear about NeW?

I first heard about NeW at a UNC-CH College Republicans meeting during fall of my sophomore year. A friend and fellow conservative woman, Emma Catherine Harrison, had started NeW at UNC, our campus chapter. I attended a meeting, where I met my current best friend, and have been involved ever since. I got to know the girls from NeW National and I knew I wanted to become more involved and hold an executive board position within my campus chapter. I started out as chapter secretary and moved up to become chapter president!

Why is NeW important?

It is so important for conservative women to find a community of like-minded women, especially on liberal campuses like Chapel Hill. Other women who do not believe the same things you do can really beat you down and make you feel alone, but having that community to behind you and feeling validated and supported can make the biggest difference. No one should ever feel the need to conform to liberal forms of feminism just because they feel like they would feel alone. Having strong views on issues where you feel like the minority can only make you stronger in your beliefs and stronger in the belief you have in yourself.

What is the most important conservative issue in your opinion?

The most important conservative issue, in my opinion, is abortion. The right to life is very important to me. Being on a campus where people are constantly pledging support for Planned Parenthood and petitioning for progressive reproductive rights makes me feel even stronger about my pro-life stance. I am proud to be pro-life because being able to abort a child is not a fundamental right and, in actuality, it is the opposite of female empowerment and equality. Well-timed and responsible pregnancies give children a healthier start in life, but taking the lives of babies who aren’t well-timed and not providing mothers support to carry a child to term no matter what the circumstance is wrong and that needs to change. People are imperfect, but why should an unborn child suffer because of the irresponsibility of another? I am pro-life and proud and I hope to encourage other women to do the same!

If you could offer advice to college students, what would it be?

The biggest piece of advice I could offer fellow college students is to be yourself. Just because a lot of people believe one thing does not mean you have to do the same. Your voice and differing opinion matters and never forget that!

Why where you interested in interning for NeW?

I was interested in interning for NeW because I greatly enjoy the work and have learned new skills from running my campus chapter. I wanted to take those ideas and tools so I could help contribute to NeW on the national level.

What do you hope to gain from your internship?

To me, NeW is a great opportunity to connect with other collegiate women that share like-minded feelings and values. There is nothing more empowering to me as a woman than working together with other amazing women to better NeW and expose how narrow-minded progressive feminism actually is. From my internship, I hope to gain new friendships and the feeling that I contributed to the good of the conservative movement!

How do you currently advocate for conservative principles on campus? 

I advocate for conservative principles on campus by leading and being heavily involved with my campus NeW chapter. In addition, I am also the Chairwoman of UNC-CH College Republicans. NeW and College Republicans both hold speaker events and work together to foster conservative principles and ideals on our liberal campus.