Iowans are fortunate enough to have the first-in-the-nation status for its caucus and the attention from presidential candidates and influence on the elections that come with it. However, there is an added element that comes with the country’s first caucus, intimidation.

Learning the political process — especially interactive voting like the Iowa Caucus — along with understanding the various policies of the candidates and forming an opinion on all of them can be a daunting task. For Iowa college students, perhaps caucusing for the first time ever, being involved in this political process can be overwhelming.

Additionally, some students and voters in general feel as though they do not know enough about politics or the candidates to even ask simple questions, form an opinion or discuss issues in a public setting. Quite frankly, politics in our country today is standoffish and often feels all too complicated for citizens to learn about.

Only 35 percent of Millenials, the generation that encompasses most of college undergraduate students, say they discuss politics at least a few times per week, according to the Pew Research Center. To make an effort to raise this percentage, the political environment needs to be more a welcoming place to learn for voters who wish to be educated on the subject. The Daily is making an effort to combat this stigma and make it OK for new voters to ask simple questions and talk through their opinions.

This is the exact reason why the Iowa State Daily is partnering with the Carrie Chapman Catt Center for Women in Politics to educate students about the political process. The Daily is helping to promote the center’s Iowa Caucus Education Workshop on Monday afternoon in the Sun Room of the Memorial Union.

Included in the event are a speakers, a museum exhibit, a documentary showing, a resource fair and a mock caucus event to take members of the ISU and Ames community through the actual process. The Daily will host a “Meet the Politics Team” booth at the resource fair so students can meet those who are covering the presidential race and ask them questions.

All of The Daily’s political content from now on will be labeled “Cy Decides 2016” in an effort to make the content easily recognizable for students. The Daily will also be using #CyDecides2016 on social media so readers can easily and quickly follow along with the presidential race on Facebook and Twitter.

Lastly, ISD Politics Editor Alex Hanson will host a live chat on Twitter at 3 p.m. Tuesday. Students can message or tweet their questions — even the simple ones — about the presidential race or caucus process to @iowastatedaily or #CyDecides2016 to get answers and learn more about politics at this time in our state for our country.