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2008 ELECTION COVERAGE
PHOTO GALLERY
RADIO» McCain reporter notebook: Campaign style
» McCain reporter notebook: McCain on health and fitness
» McCain reporter notebook: Young Republicans on McCain
» Obama reporter notebook: domestic violence
» Obama reporter notebook: gas prices
» Clinton reporter notebooks: Immigrant youth
» McCain reporter notebook: McCain on Social Security
» Y-Press tackles the candidates
» Clinton reporter notebook: Cool factor
When Caroline Kennedy, daughter of former President John Kennedy, recently endorsed Barack Obama, she said one of the reasons was her three teenaged children who began "convincing" her last year. And while Kennedy's children cannot vote, the momentum of this year's election is infecting their too-young-to-vote age group.
In light of this political enthusiasm, Y-Press, a youth-media organization, is exploring the younger-than-voting-age interest in the election and issues.
The Indianapolis-based youth journalists have created two surveys to learn what kids under 18 think about the important issues and candidates of the 2008 elections.
"Many times youth voices are unheard. We feel that today's youth are invaluable resources that must be tapped," said 15-year-old editor Jonathan Gainer. "The purpose of the surveys and subsequent stories are to give youth the means to be heard."
Click here to participate in Y-Press's issues survey
Click here to participate in the candidates' survey
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Why does this middle-schooler call himself Wisconsin’s youth activist? At age 14, Asher Heimermann has a Web site (www.asherheimermann.com) with tens of thousands of visitors, a radio show that airs every week, and a voice that demands to be heard.
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When David Burstein was in high school, it never occurred to him that politics might be irrelevant to his life. He grew up watching CNN and accompanying his parents in voting booths.
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Shaw High School senior Jonathan Lykes is not your typical high schooler. As a matter of fact, he was
called an “overachiever” by The Columbus Dispatch. You see, for the past year, Jonathan has been helping to lead the Ohio Youth Agenda, a group of high school students throughout the state who gather yearly to promote issues that matter most to Ohio’s youth.
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Nic Morden is an officer in the Junior State of America chapter at Central Valley High School in Spokane. JSA is a nationwide, non-profit organization composed of more than 500,000 high school students who are interested in politics and current events.
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Fifteen-year-old Rachel Swanson has a history of political activism. Coming from a politically active family (her dad worked as a legislative aide for Iowa Sen. Tom Harkin) she's continuing the tradition at Bryan Station High School, where she is vice president of the Young Democrats club.
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Youth today often have unlimited access to multiple forms of communication and have been called the most connected generation. It is not uncommon, for example, for a kid to spend several hours each night instant messaging friends, creating and posting videos on YouTube or inputting information on Facebook or MySpace for (almost) all the world to see.
These communications venues are also playing a key role in the 2008 election. As the conventions near, presidential candidates are trying to get all the votes and funding that they can, and the Internet has become a gold mine for generating support, particularly from youth.
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Megan Waggoner’s first love is the environment. She is active in Alaska Youth for Environmental Action and traveled to Washington, D.C., last year to attend the President’s Environmental Youth Awards ceremony, which recognized her group for its environmental activism.
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Raheel Anwer joined the Mikva Challenge Club at Amundsen High School in Chicago without knowing that it would take him to New Hampshire, standing next to Hillary and Chelsea Clinton.
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Nik Ritchie helped start the Ron Paul club at the University of Central Florida. Although John McCain appears headed for the Republican nomination, Ritchie feels that Paul accomplished a lot. “No one knew who he was before he ran for president, and he did very well considering how unknown he was,” he said.
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Shoshana Akabas is editor in chief of Political Fire, a political newspaper at Stuyvesant High School, a renowned public school in New York. She hasn’t always been interested in politics — a few years ago, she was pretty apathetic even though both of her older brothers — Tal and Shai Akabas — were editors on the newspaper.
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As a teenager, Beth Foster has had an ongoing interest in politics. In 2005, she worked on the governor’s campaign in Virginia, and then in 2006, she helped out in a congressional campaign.
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Four years ago, Conor Rogers saw a need for political volunteers and created the New Jersey Teenage Republican Organization (www.njtars.org) to mobilize young people. Though it started out as a school club, it expanded to serve the county and then the state.
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Rachel Briggs is a youth volunteer for the Obama campaign in Honolulu, HI. Organizing supporters’ contact information, working at fund-raising events, and starting a student chapter in her district are some of Rachel’s accomplishments.
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Jennifer Jones has been politically active since she was a high school freshman. Since then, she has worked passionately for the Democratic Party. She sees no problem with continuing her activism after high school, as she will be attending American University in Washington, D.C., in the fall.
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Jack Boeglin has been following Barack Obama since his speech at the Democratic National Convention in 2004. After doing some research, he decided to start a chapter of Students For Barack Obama at his high school.
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It took a while, but the Blunt Youth Radio Project has helped Gavin Bauer find his voice.
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Upon graduating from Coronado High School, Shaina Soloman will have more notches on her political belt than many adults. A highly motivated Democrat, Shaina has started a Young Democrats chapter, served as a caucus delegate, volunteered for numerous campaigns and is completing a paid internship with the state Democratic Party.
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Much has been written and reported on the throngs of youth involved in the presidential primaries and caucuses. But will youth actually have an impact on the general election? Will activism translate into votes?
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According to CIRCLE, the Center for Information & Research on Civic Learning and Engagement at the University of Maryland, more than 32 million youth ages 18 to 25 will be eligible to vote in the upcoming election. If 55 percent of these young people vote – a record turnout, attained only once, in the 1972 election – more than 17.6 million ballots will be cast.
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Despite living in Michigan's remote Upper Peninsula, Pryce Hadley has been able to maintain a high level of political activism. At Marquette Senior High School, from which he just graduated, he participated in "We the People," a nationwide competition in which students answer questions about U.S. government posed by government experts.
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Molly Kawahata takes the term "campaign worker" to a whole new level. The high school senior rearranged her school schedule to have an earlier release in order to have more time to work as the national high school director for Sen. Barack Obama's presidential campaign.
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Erika Sylvester has filled her year with political activity. She
volunteers on the re-election campaign of U.S. Sen. Max Baucus and has been an active supporter of both Democratic presidential candidates.
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Jimmy Van Eerden is the oldest of 10 children, so he's used
to taking the lead in projects. Spurred on by a friend's frustrations, he began holding voter registration drives by age 14.
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Pollsters and analysts love to identify voting blocs, using them to explain voting trends and to make projections. The Latino voting bloc has been repeatedly analyzed, often getting credit for swaying elections, such as the 2004 presidential contest in which incumbent George W. Bush defeated U.S. Sen. John Kerry.
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Dedicating hours to student voter registration, promoting youth involvement in politics, and all the while campaigning for John Parker for Montana attorney general and for herself as a precinct committeewoman, Caitie Boland is the epitome of youth political activism.
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Peter Christensen, 17, and his brother Alex, 14, are from Escalante, Utah, a town of 818, according to the last census. While the boys enjoy outdoors activities such as fishing and hiking, they are both officers in the Garfield County Teen Age Republicans, a local chapter of the national TARs program.
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In DeKalb County, Democratic incumbent Harold Bobo was going unchallenged in the 2008 school board primary. Sterlin Pendergrass stepped up to make sure everyone’s voice was heard.
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When Adam Lussier realized that he was nearing voting age, he decided to do some research on the presidential candidates. Like most teens, he headed straight to the Web, where he "stumbled upon" Ron Paul's Web site and liked what he read. A registered Democrat, Adam switched parties to vote for Paul in Connecticut's Super Tuesday primary.
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Anyone who knew Heidi Bentley wouldn’t have guessed that she could play a significant role in a campaign to elect Tom Parker to the Alabama Supreme Court. Even the twins, Alex and Brett Harris, who delegated the tasks to her didn’t know exactly who Heidi was. They thought she was her 24-year-old sister.
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Attending the University of North Carolina this fall, Glenn McLaurin has done much in the way of helping his community in Wake County, N.C. As an only child, his parents always gave him a forum. He thought if he had that opportunity in the family, he should have that in the community, too.
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Do Latinos vote as a bloc? According to students at Duarte High School in Los Angeles County, the answer is sometimes.
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Zach Ammerman has always enjoyed politics. Now, after working on Hilary Clinton's campaign, he hopes to make a career out of it.
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At age 15, Raven Robinson decided that she wanted to pursue a career in public service, and she's been busy ever since. Not only has she held a series of leadership roles in her school's student government, she's been involved in several political activities as well.
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Amanda Randall has been involved in politics since age 13. For five of those years she's been active in the Teen Age Republicans, a group affiliated with the Republican Party that is dedicated to getting young people involved in the political process. She has held several positions in TARS, most recently as state chair, where she's been in charge of recruiting and leadership.
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Four years ago, Ava Lowery was frustrated. She felt that just speaking out against the war in Iraq wasn't enough and decided to combine her love of video, journalism and politics and start a Web site, www.peacetakescourage.com.
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In Mississippi, the summer of 1963 was a violent one — 30 black homes and 37 black churches were firebombed, and more than 80 civic activists were beaten. The following summer, about 40 Freedom Schools were opened, dedicated to creating "an educational experience for students which will make it possible for them to challenge the myths of our society, to perceive more clearly its realities, and to find alternatives — ultimately new directions for action," in the words of founder Charles Cobb. Though the program floundered through the years, it was reborn in 1992 with the support of the Children's Defense Fund.
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This election, much fuss has been made about the voting potential of young adults. Candidates have reached out to youth through social networking sites, such as Facebook and MySpace, and in frequent visits to college campuses.But part of this demographic has long been overlooked.
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