Temple student welcomes VP Harris to Philly region: ‘Go Birds!'

In Philadelphia, “Go Birds” is as ubiquitous a phrase as “hello,” “good morning,” and “thank you.”

And, in any situation, it could be used instead of any of those terms.

So, it should come as no surprise that at a town hall event held in Aston with Vice President — and Democratic presidential candidate — Kamala Harris, someone eventually snuck the phrase in during a period of questions and answers with the crowd.

And that someone was Temple student Elkan Pleat.

With the last question of the evening during the event Wednesday, Oct. 23, 2024, Pleat uttered a short, quick — and, probably as polite a version of the phrase as could be uttered — “Go Birds” before he asked Harris about her proudest moment in her political career.

“Hi. First of all, Go Birds, and hi from… I’m from Danville, California,” said Pleat, eliciting a grin from Harris. “My question is, what is the proudest moment of your political career thus far, including when you were the A.G.?”

In her response, Harris discussed her time in California, and the creation of the state’s Bureau of Children’s Justice — noting that, as a Californian, Pleat may be familiar with the group.

“It was because I believe that, frankly, we still have a lot to do in terms of policy that impacts children, and an investment in the children of our country is an investment in all of us and our future, and that work has actually produced significant results,” Harris said. “That has been a proud moment for me, was a proud moment for me to — to do the work that we’ve been doing that has addressed issues like maternal mortality.”

The town hall event held Wednesday, Oct. 23, 2024, was presented by CNN and was intended to allow the candidate to meet with undecided voters.

During the event, Pleat was introduced as a registered Democrat who had not yet made a final decision, but was leaning toward supporting Harris.