From the News Tribune, Tacoma, WA November 4, 2008
Across the South Sound, a teachable moment Kids learn that ‘voting is cool’Students from kindergarten to high school voice their opinion through mock elections
DEBBY ABE; debby.abe@thenewstribune.com
Published: November 4th, 2008 12:30 AM | Updated: November 4th, 2008 07:16 AM
As voters across the nation anxiously wait to find out the nation’s next commander in chief, the kids at Carson Elementary School on South Hill already know their student body’s choice for president: Barack Obama.
The school held a mock election Monday, and the senator from Illinois attained a convincing 57.2 percent win over Sen. John McCain’s 41.4 percent. As Carson assistant principal Miles Erdly announced the results to the student body, he reminded the kids, “Once one person is named, what people then need to do is rally behind that individual.
“No matter what the outcome is, we’re not going to tease each other or be negative about it to other people. ”
Good advice for young and old voters alike.
Carson is among an assortment of schools throughout the South Sound using this fall’s election as a “teachable moment.”
Besides their counterparts at Carson Elementary, students at Camelot Elementary and Brigadoon Elementary in the Federal Way area were among the schools holding mock elections Monday. Sandy Heffernan’s fifth-graders at Arlington Elementary in Tacoma already voted and made banners. Seabury School students in Tacoma voted last week.
Plenty more schools will vote today, including: Stafford and Franklin elementary schools and Baker Middle School in Tacoma. Carter Lake Elementary on McChord Air Force Base; Orting Middle School and Kilo, Lakota, Sacajawea, Saghalie, and Sequoyah middle schools in Federal Way.
At Carter Lake, third- through fifth-graders also are studying past and current presidential commercials to discuss purpose and audience.
At Franklin Elementary in Tacoma, Shelly Smith’s fourth-graders have studied the qualifications and duties of the president and the candidates’ backgrounds as they’ve followed the election.
“I want my students to remember the election of 2008 50 years from now because it will be very historic,” Smith said.
The pseudo elections aren’t limited to lower grades. At least one class at Federal Way’s Todd Beamer High School will vote today. At Clover Park High School in Lakewood, Ron Olson’s contemporary world affairs class is conducting an election for all students in the small learning community called “Crossroads Preparatory.” Olson’s class will use the voting data in a research project on youth vote and this year’s election.
Some kids’ votes today will count. Custer Elementary School students in Lakewood and Wainwright Elementary students in Fircrest will elect student body officers.
At 878-student Carson, kindergartners through sixth-graders geared up for Monday’s election using a voting curriculum from the Pierce County Auditor’s Office, Principal Arturo Gonzalez said. Last week, the kids completed pretend voter registration forms and received pretend voter cards.
On Monday, school PTA moms transformed Carson’s entrance foyer into an elaborate election precinct, complete with a 30-foot flag that formed a wall-length curtain. They set up a bank of 30 booths made of the tri-fold presentation boards more often used for science projects.
Class by class, kids and their teachers trotted to the polls throughout the day.
Under the guidance of a PTA volunteer acting as a poll worker, youngsters signed their name on their class’s voter registration list and took a paper ballot to the booth. Once they had marked a box, they folded the paper in half, dropped it in a red, white, and blue ballot box and got a “Voting is Cool” sticker to slap on their shirt.
Every hour, Erdly counted the ballots and updated “Carson Decision 2008” results broadcast to classrooms on the school’s closed-circuit channel. One screen showed the vote percentage for each candidate, and another screen gave bar graphs showing hour-by-hour results as classes voted.
Asked what he thought of the scelection, third-grader Owen Roberts held a pencil from the auditor’s office reading, “Voting is Cool.”
“I voted for John McCain because I think that only people who will fight for America or have already fought for America should be president,” the youngster said.
Plus, McCain was the candidate preferred by his parents.
“And he has a good vice-president, so if he dies, it won’t be like (there’ll be) a horrible president.”
Second-grader Jack Dalton said he chose Obama, the same as his mom, grandma and great-grandma.
“It was pretty fun and interesting,” said Jack, raising his eyebrows. “Now I guess everyone is definitely prepared to vote when they’re 18.”
Debby Abe: 253-597-8694
Staff writer Steve Maynard contributed to this report.
