Former SMU Student Body President Patrick Kobler addressed Student Senate last Tuesday about Hilltop to Hilltop, a career panel focused on helping students find jobs and internships in local, state or the federal government.

“The first step in politics is not the easiest,” Kobler said. “Especially in Dallas, when all the politics are in Washington.”

The panel will take place in the Hughes-Trigg Ballroom today at 5 p.m. and will be moderated by Kobler and will include five SMU alumni.

The panelists will speak about how to get involved in the political job hunt before graduating.

“It’s about finding out how to get where you want to be from where you are now,” Kobler said.

Hilltop to Hilltop was not designed to be akin to a job fair, but Kobler says that doesn’t mean that a job can’t come from the experience.

“Any contact can be a contact that leads to a job,” Kobler said, “It was contacts that I made while I was student body president at SMU that helped me get to where I am now.”

Panel members include Hannah Abney, the former assistant press secretary to Vice President Dick Cheney and current director of media relations at the George W. Bush Presidential Center.

Terra Gray McClelland, the former director of advance for First Lady Laura Bush, will join Abney on the panel.

Although these two members on the panel either work currently with the Bushes or have in the past, the moderator promises the event will be non-partisan.

“The point isn’t to have a political debate,” Kobler said.

After all, the 2009-2010 student body president says that diversity was a key when picking out the panel.

“And the word ‘diversity’ isn’t a catchphrase,” Kobler said. “All of these people are from different backgrounds.”

Judge Dennise Garcia, who presides over the 303rd District Court in Dallas will also be on the panel tonight.

Rob Johnson, another former SMU student body president who currently works as a political consultant, and Warren Seay, who works on the Board of Trustees for DeSoto ISD, will be available as well.

These are all graduates of SMU and Kobler told Student Senate that he believes that SMU students have the potential to not just get jobs in Washington, but to make significant changes there.

“And I don’t just have to say that anymore,” Kobler said.