Young Democrats help students get involved

YOUNG DEMOCRATS RETURN

Club aims to get students involved in politics

PHILIP ROTONDO ONLINE FEATURES EDITOR

Following a year of operating online, the Young Democrats are finally meeting in person again. With the general election coming up, the Young Democrats see a good opportunity to get students active in politics, encouraging them to vote and get involved in events.

“[We want] to get individuals at our school involved in the political process, meaning getting people who are eligible out to vote and holding organized events like phone banks and meetings with our rival school, Langley. It really gets students engaged,” said senior Aria Huffman, a club board member.

Despite their name, the Young Democrats try to exist more as an educational institution than a political one.

“The purpose of the Young Democrats club is to educate the students of McLean on democratic issues in our country and to keep students involved in politics,” Huffman said.

Although most club members have similar political views, the club is not exclusive about ideologies.

“We are called the Young Democrats, but we have members who are very, very moderate and we have members who are very, very far to the left,” Huffman said. “There are a lot of disagreements that go on in our club.”

One of the club’s goals is to keep such disagreements productive, focusing on sharing ideas rather than being toxic and aggressive.

“We saw that in our meetings last year, especially [those] with big turnouts, we had a lot of really healthy disagreements and we got to have a lot of really great debates,” Huffman said. “[The club] is a place where even if you are more in the middle or very far to the left, your viewpoint will be [validated] as long as you are not promoting any form of hate.”

Inclusivity tends to be central to the Young Democrats’ operation, as it allows for wider discussions.

“They definitely tried as much as they could last year [to be inclusive of diverse points of view],” club sponsor Karen McNamara said. “They were really trying to encourage anyone who was there to participate in the meetings.”

McNamara has been serving as the sponsor of the club for three years, originally starting due to the club’s alignment with her field of expertise as a social studies teacher.

“As an AP Government teacher I want to encourage students to participate in politics,” McNamara said. “I think it is key to have students civically motivated to participate and understand more about our government.”

The club’s activities, such as phone banking to spark voter interest in candidates and campaigns, are mostly student-organized under the direction of the club’s board members.

“We do phone banks and volunteer work for Democratic campaigns, specifically in Virginia,” said junior Elliot Smith-Chauss, a Young Democrats board member. “In the past we’ve also done some more national ones, like for the Georgia runoffs.”

The upcoming Virginia general election, featuring a race for governor between Democrat Terry McAuliffe and Republican Glenn Youngkin, has become one of the Young Democrats’ main focuses.

“We’re [promoting other organizations’ campaigns and] phone banks [for the general election],” Smith-Chauss said.

No matter how the general election goes on Nov. 2, the Young Democrats’ goal remains the same.

“We spend our meetings trying to inform students about important topics and have open discussions about those topics,” McNamara said. “[We want to] get students thinking about the role the government should play in everyone’s lives.”

THE PURPOSE OF THE YOUNG DEMOCRATS CLUB IS TO ... KEEP STUDENTS INVOLVED IN POLITICS.”

- ARIA HUFFMAN SENIOR