Eligible St. Anne’s-Belfield School Seniors Vote in First Election

By Amaya Mitchell. Article first published Nov. 4, 2024

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (WVIR) —

One class at St. Anne’s-Belfield School is educating high school students on election topics.

It is coming in handy for a few seniors who are just old enough to vote.

The class is called 21st Century Citizenship and it is a senior seminar.

“Finally, being able to actually have a difference in the topics that I’ve been hearing about my entire life is really motivating to me,” said senior Cadigan P. ’25.

Cadigan says she will be a first-time voter in this year’s presidential election.

“I think that it’s really just empowering to finally know that my voice is going to be

Her classmates, Chloe P.-B. ’25, is also excited to be a first-time voter.

“By learning as much as I can about this election and participating as young as I can, I’m kind of bringing in the most educated vote that I can as a younger voter,” said Chloe.

While everyone in the class is a senior, not everyone is old enough to vote.

Kaden F. ’25 is one of those who will have to wait for another election cycle.

“I also hope to be more informed, because I got into a little bit, you know, general politics a little bit sooner, and I have more time to kind of change and develop my ideas,” said Kaden.

He says young voters do matter and he believes, can have an impact politically, regardless of age.

“I think it’s important to realize that even if you don’t have a vote, you still have an impact on, you know, everybody you talk to in your daily life, and you know a lot of them might have a vote,” said Kaden.

All three students agree that this class has been an eye-opening opportunity to learn and created a safe space for discussion.

“Today, sometimes it feels very intense to have political discussions, but in class, we kind of just sit and talk to each other, and I’ve learned lots of different opinions and kind of how to have those difficult conversations,” said Cadigan.

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