In the first of several visits presidential candidate Hillary Clinton said she will be making to the state, the former first lady spoke on her economic polices at Wake Tech Community College Thursday morning to students from different colleges and universities.

Noting how community colleges can play a larger role in in supplying jobs in North Carolina, Clinton advocated for Pell Grant increases for workers and a new workforce training program.

“When it comes to retraining assistance, our government is more focused on how you lost your job than how you can find a new one,” Clinton said. “And while we have been rightly focused on trying to help people who are out of work, there’s been too little thought and effort to help people gain new skills while they still have their existing jobs — so they can move up or move on to higher-wage positions.”

Drew Wall, a junior in social studies education, said he went to hear Clinton speak even though he is a Barack Obama supporter.

“I decided to go because she’s the former first lady,” Wall said. “She’s really the first woman to be a presidential candidate. Even though I don’t agree with her on [some] issues or the way she goes about campaigning, I still have respect for the woman and her experience.”

Clinton also called for other programs that she said would help the country’s failing economy, such as stronger partnerships between colleges and companies, universal health care and the ending of the tax breaks in place for oil companies.

Wall said the issues about the economy that Clinton brought up are important.

“But I also think a lot of people assume that between Hillary and Obama, Hillary is going to be best for the economy, but I don’t agree with that at all,” he said.

According to Wall, this is the perception because people look back at Bill Clinton’s term in the 90s and “they see tranquility on the market, which of course we’re not seeing now.”

“She’s really viewed as the working-class candidate, so I thought she brought up some valid points about how the government has been so irresponsible during the Bush administration’s eight years,” he said.

The crowd filled the venue at Wake Tech and spilled into the student lounge to watch the speech on TVs. Sonya Patel, a junior in biomedical engineering, attended Clinton’s speech after seeing Barack Obama’s rally in Durham in November.

Patel said she was leaning toward Clinton coming into today’s speech and the event only confirmed her feelings.

“I really buy what she has to say and to me, her experience is really valuable,” Patel said. “It’s great that we got to hear her speak on the economy, since it’s one of the bigger issues and so important domestically.”

Patel said she began following the political scene in the 2004 election, and found out about the Clinton rally through an e-mail service she signed up for in the last election.

“It makes it easier to follow and to quickly read up on the issues,” she said.

But Wall said Clinton’s speech did not sway him.

“Hillary wants to cut taxes for the middle class,” Wall said. “Obama wants to cut taxes for the middle and lower classes. It’s really all about which candidate is electable against a Republican and that’s something Obama has going for him.”

Patel would love to see both of the candidates again, she said. She will get her chance, with both Clinton and Obama set to make frequent stops in the state before the May 6 primary.

“I had to skip a few classes today, but if I can’t attend the [future] events, I’ll catch the live feed of them,” Patel said.

Jimmy Nguyen, a senior in civil engineering, also attended both the Obama event and Clinton’s, but is still undecided.

“Hillary’s ideas seem more focused and she seems more willing to sit down and talk,” Nguyen said. “Obama has really rallied people, but I want more solutions.”

According to Wall though, because George W. Bush’s dad, George H.W. Bush, was also president before Bill Clinton and because Hillary is now running, people don’t want to feel like two families will continue to run the country.

“You hear the word ‘change’ thrown out a lot,” he said. “People want change when two families have been running things most of our lives for those of us in college.”

Managing Editor Saja Hindi contributed to this story.