OCTOBER 23, 2020
DESIGNED BY SYDNEY WALDRON
S
Youth In Politics: Student Voices in the Election
With the upcoming presidential election, students are becoming increasingly involved in politics. Although many of them cannot vote, the election is still being shaped by youth opinion. Story by Sydney Waldron | Design Editor Carmon Baker | Online Editor
Photo courtesy Marzena Nowak from the Gregor Podnar exhibit. Taken from Pintrest
ocial studies teacher Andrew Meyer walks into one of his classes. Looking out at his students, he sees two types: those who are relatively uninformed and those who are very invested in politics. Meyer will teach U.S. government classes second semester and tends to approach the two types of students differently. “It’s a very wide spectrum,” Meyer said. “I have students that come in and be like, ‘I have no idea, and it doesn’t mean anything to me.’ On the opposite side, I do have a bunch of students that come in and they’re very gung ho and have, whether from their parents or from things that they’ve done clubs or they’ve gotten involved in, they have a lot of very invested viewpoints that they’ve already begun developing.” According to Meyer, he believes that it is very easy for students to ignore political issues and current events. However, he still thinks that it is important for students to develop some political awareness. “It’s okay to not have an idea of what’s going on because technically, most of the time, if you’re not 18, you feel as though you don’t have a voice because you don’t have a way to vote,” Meyer said. “The part where ‘it doesn’t mean anything to me,’ is where I start growing concerned. Everything in government impacts your daily life. And so it’s important to make that realization. Not to say that you have to be 100% invested in politics at a high schooler’s age, but you need to start thinking about what’s going on.” In his classes, Meyer tries to get his
students more involved and aware through a wide range of activities. According to Meyer, at the end of each semester, he has his students write a letter to a Congressman or representative to give students a personal connection to the government. “Just because when we can’t vote, that doesn’t mean that we can’t participate,” Meyer said. “We can participate in a variety of different manners and a variety of different mediums.”
“
THIS ELECTION HAS GARNERED SUCH A GREATER SIGNIFICANCE TO SO MANY MORE PEOPLE THAN ANY ONE BEFORE HISTORY TEACHER ANDREW MEYER
“
16 CENTERSPREAD
Overall, Meyer has seen more students that are aware and involved in recent years, specifically in the 2020 presidential election. “I’ve heard more and more students talking about the election, talking about
STA Election
Alternative Coverage by Caroline Hinkbein|Sports Editor
17
what’s going on,” Meyer said. “This election has garnered such a greater significance to so many more people than any one before. And I think that’s a good thing. I think that’s going to lend itself to more and more people becoming involved in later elections, even after this one has subsided.” Rather than something specific that the presidential candidates are doing, Meyer partially attributes an increase in youth involvement to celebrities who raise political awareness, rather than something specific that the presidential candidates are doing. “I think we’re seeing targeting a lot of younger people in a variety of different mediums,” Meyer said. “If you turn on any football game on Sundays, you’re gonna see that they have different commercials from different players on different teams, saying, ‘Go vote, learn, figure out what you need to do, be informed and do it.’ With the pop stars or celebrities the pro-athletes, really trying to reach out and grab and show the importance of why being informed is important in life.” Due to this increased awareness, Meyer has seen more students getting involved in political issues on campus. He believes that current events have influenced events such as walkouts, climate strikes and the March on Windmoor, which are students’ ways of having their political voices heard. “There’s been more students wanting to bring change in whatever way they can,” Meyer said. “And so I think we’re gonna see that more and more: to-scale versions of
