Teachers push for campus voter registration

annie ALCORN • claire LOWDER

Civic Learning Week began this week, and teachers at MHS celebrated with voter registration for students.

The organization, Civic Learning Week, hopes to “highlight the importance of civic education in sustaining and strengthening constitutional democracy in the United States.”

On Tuesday, March 7, voter registration was avaliable to students during lunch shifts.

Scott Szevery, social studies teacher, urged RSD to reintroduce the availability of voter registration at MHS alongside the Academic Council (school staff responsible for final-decision making) and Partners In Education (PIE).

“It’s very easy to become distracted and forget to register to vote as a freshman or sophomore in college or not know how to vote from out of state,” Szevery said. “Making registration available to students before they graduate high school will put this on their radar a little earlier.”

Mahita Avasarala, senior, said providing the opportunity for eligible students to register to vote at school would be convenient.

April 4 BOE Election

Six candidates are running for three open positions.

• Karen Bachert

• Robert Cadigan

• Thomas Dunn

• Trisha Katzfey

• Lynne Midyett

• Richard Wierzba

Brendon Tognoni, junior, registers to vote for Civic Learning Week during lunch. A desk was placed at the front of the Commons for students who are 18 or will be 18 by Thursday, Sept. 7, to register. “We used to do voter registration years ago but it kind of fell by the wayside,” Scott Szevery, social studies teacher, said. Photograph by Pranav Sriraman

Avasarala is currently not registered to vote because she is still 17, but she plans on registering soon because she can at 17 ½.

With the General Municipal Election happening on Tuesday, April 4, which includes voting on three district Board of Education seats, Avasarala said encouraging students to register in March is a smart choice.

“A lot of people don’t realize that voting in local elections is just as important as the presidential elections,” Avasarala said.

Echoing Avasarala, Jordan Shelton, language arts teacher, said stressing the

More information can be found on the RSD website importance of voting to seniors entering adulthood has many benefits.

“It will show seniors that we think it’s very important that they participate in local government,” Shelton said.

“And, it lets them know that all community members should have a goal to be an active voter.”

Leap year babies legally celebrate in March

annie ALCORN

Last week, Kim Moon, language arts teacher, celebrated her birthday. This year, she will turn 6 and 3/4.

Moon was born on Feb. 29, 1996, which is a leap day. She said she has always celebrated on Feb. 28 because it is still in February, but her legal birthday is not until March 1 on a non-leap year.

“My dad refuses to tell me ‘happy birthday’ until March 1,” Moon said. “I actually love that he still does that.”

In elementary school, Moon said her classmates would make fun of her because she was always the youngest in the class and didn’t get a real birthday every year.

“But, once I got to middle school, everyone thought I was so cool,” Moon said. “So, I quickly learned to love my birthday.”

Except for having to wait an extra day to get her driver’s license when she turned 16, Moon said she has had no complaints about when her birthday is.

“It’s such a unique day that I don’t have to share with many people,” Moon said.

Lisa Moon, Moon’s mom, said her due date was actually a scheduled C-section surgery, but it was not intentional for it to fall on leap day. The doctor’s surgery day was Thursdays, and the surgery just happened to fall on Feb. 29.

“I had the choice of waiting another week, but that was not recommended,” Lisa said. “So, leap day it was.”

Kimberly’s brother and sister thought it was entertaining that she was born on leap day, Lisa said. Someone at the hospital gave the family frog pins to symbolize a new “leap” year baby in the family.

“It seemed unusual and fun,” Lisa said. “We really didn’t think ahead to some of the possible weirdness a leap year baby could entail.”

Like Moon, Caleb Walz, freshman, said he feels like he has a special connection with a lot of strangers that share his birthday, which is also on leap day.

“Not a lot of people are in this situation,” Walz said. “I guess it’s cool to meet other people with a leap year birthday.”

Since Walz only gets a “real” birthday every four years, he said his family celebrates him on two days every year, Feb. 28 and March 1. Walz goes out to dinner and opens presents on both days.

Because he was born in 2008, Walz has only celebrated on his actual birth date three times.

“I hate when people tell me I’m only 3 years old,” Walz said. “But, I don’t hate my birthday because it makes me unique.”