The students at New Albany High School found a reason to get politically active: the 2009 election.

Although no national issues were on this year's ballot, the students discovered how important it is to get involved in the community.

The school created a mock election so freshmen through seniors could experience the voting process.

To cast an educated vote, however, the students realized they needed to be informed.

"This is our second mock election," said Dawn Scott, a government teacher at the school and coordinator of the mock election. "Even though this year is a smaller election, the students are still learning how to fit voting into their schedules and the role knowledge plays in voting."

With hopes of educating the rest of the school, senior AP government students presented to every student a voters guide that explained each of the issues and candidates in detail.

"By explaining the issues to my peers in terms that high-schoolers could understand, I ended up knowing the issues backward and forward," AP government senior Neha Reddy said. "The process of teaching others also helped teach me."

Students on the receiving agreed.

"The seniors' presentation taught more about the issues and candidates than what I already knew," junior Evan Cullinan said. "These decisions directly affect our school and the conditions we live in."

Some students thought the school should take time to discuss local issues more often.

"We should take advantage of homeroom to talk about what's happening in our community," junior Jack Schlemmer said. "Just hearing about the issues got me interested in how we can incorporate this kind of discussion on a regular basis."

Not only are students thinking about how these issues will affect their lives at school, but also how they will affect their future.

"After learning about the issues and candidates, I realized that they aren't fleeting; they will still affect us years from now," freshman Adena Mistovich-Perez said. "For example, Issue 3 may increase state revenue, but how will it impact Ohio's biggest downtowns? We have to keep that in mind."

Just bringing the issues to light in school kindled a fire of interest.

"By making me aware of the issues," Mistovich-Perez said, "I understood what was happening in my community. Once I understood, I cared."

Some students questioned how they could become more involved in local government.

"National politics are easier to follow, but students can easily track and impact local politics in New Albany," said Josie Volovetz, a senior AP government student. "Town council meetings are always open to the public."

The effort to educate New Albany High School students about local government has promoted learning not only inside the classroom, but also discussion outside. Bringing students to vote together as a unified body not only connected them as a school, but also as citizens of a community.


Mallory Kidwell is a senior in New Albany High School's AP government class.