NORTHAMPTON -- Touting Bernie Sanders as a presidential candidate "worth voting for," Ben and Jerry's Ice Cream co-founders Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield urged Smith College students Wednesday to partake in the upcoming Massachusetts primary election.

Cohen and Greenfield, who have traveled across the country to stump for Sanders, promoted the Democratic White House hopeful's authenticity and integrity during an afternoon event, which was not sanctioned by the Northampton college.

Although they offered praised for the Vermont senator's presidential run and contended that his bid is about the American people -- not himself, Cohen and Greenfield encouraged students to vote on March 1 regardless of what candidate they support.

With less than one week left before voters in Massachusetts and nearly a dozen other states head to the polls in presidential primary contests, Cohen and Greenfield have been traveling the Bay State to urge support for the Vermont senator's campaign. The Wednesday afternoon event marked the first time the surrogates have taken their support for Sanders directly to college students.

Cohen and Greenfield, who personally scooped ice cream for event attendees, said they believe it's important to shore up support for Sanders in places like Massachusetts, where some polls have placed him neck-and-neck with Democratic rival Hillary Clinton.

"March 1 is an important date here," Cohen said in an interview. "Super Tuesday is kind of going to be a make or break time for Bernie and we want to do as much as we can to help him get elected."

Sanders, he said, needs to win at least four Super Tuesday states to really continue building momentum for his campaign and stay competitive with Clinton. But, even if the Vermont senator sees fewer victories, Cohen predicted that his campaign will continue moving forward, albeit in more of an uphill battle to win the Democratic Party's nomination.

As longtime constituents of the Vermont senator, Cohen said he and Greenfield have watched Sanders' political career mature and seen how consistent his message has remained.

They argued that the more voters get to know Sanders, the more they come to support him.

"I think as people get to know Bernie they understand he's honest, he's genuine, he's not a guy who reads the polls and formulates his opinions based on that and that he's not for sale," Greenfield said in an interview. "He's working for regular folks."

Stressing that this is not a "normal election," Cohen said the chance to support a candidate like Sanders comes along "once in a generation."

He told Smith students that while the 2016 election will mark the first time many of them can weigh-in on the presidential contest, this cycle is somewhat unique.

"You might think that, well this is the way it usually is. Well, it's not," Cohen said. "Usually, it's a choice between the lesser of two evils and nobody's really that excited about it, but you vote for the best person you can vote for. This is historic because it's finally a candidate worth voting for. It's finally a candidate who is willing to take on the entrenched moneyed, corporate interests."

While the two noted that Sanders is the first presidential candidate they have actively campaigned for, they encouraged students to partake in the upcoming primary process even if they end up not supporting the Vermont senator.

"Ben and I are big supporters of Bernie and incredibly inspired by Bernie, but the message from all of us, is no matter what you decide, you've got to go out and vote," Greenfield said.

Quinn Malter, a sophomore and president of Smith Students for Bernie, agreed with Cohen and Greenfield that Sanders is a unique candidate.

"He has been consistent, he is a voice for the people when they don't always have a voice, he has been in politics for decades now and has never compromised his values," she said in an interview. "Politics is a weird game, it's a strange system: there is gridlock, there is dishonesty at times, but people like Bernie remind me why I study government, why I love what I do."

Katie Hitchcock-Smith, a junior and president of the Bipartisan Coalition, said the student group, which seeks to ensure there's dialog around all issues, decided to bring in Ben and Jerry because it wanted to spark discussion on the presidential race as not everyone at Smith is a Democrat or Sanders supporter.

Although the Bipartisan Coalition is typically focused on bringing in more controversial speakers, she said in her opinion "there's really nothing controversial about Bernie Sanders and free ice cream."