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There's no voting age at St. Christopher School
By Melissa Matchak
Students at St. Christopher School on Booksin Avenue will vote in this year's election. Although their votes may not count in the actual polls, students of all ages are learning about the election process and the issues being voted upon on Nov. 7.
Through the Kids Voting California program, students at St. Christopher School and all over the county and state are learning about the importance of democracy. Kids Voting is a nonprofit, nonpartisan effort to educate students from kindergarten through 12th grade about the importance of voting and to give them the experience of going to the polls.
At St. Christopher School, eighth-graders prepared voter packets to be distributed to precincts in Santa Clara and Santa Cruz counties. Jeannie Gutierrez, who teaches eighth grade, said her students got involved with compiling the voter packets because students from the school had worked at polling places in the past. Gutierrez said the school has been involved with the Kids Voting program for five or six years.
"Doing this gives them a sense of civic responsibility," Gutierrez said of her students. "They're very opinionated on the issues, and this gives them a good background on what's going on."
Gutierrez said parents have told her their kids come home from school and discuss the issues with them.
In the classroom, Gutierrez said the Kids Voting program begins with teachers incorporating the hands-on program curriculum and culminates on election day when students go to official polling sites and cast their votes. She said the program coincides with her lessons in the classroom, especially with this year as a presidential election year.
"We do this program during the time of the election each year. It goes hand in hand with the lessons on the Constitution and the presidential election process," Gutierrez said.
The Kids Voting California program started locally with a pilot project--which is now called Kids Voting Silicon Valley--in 1992 and has since expanded countywide, offering all public and private schools the opportunity to participate. Since 1996, over 60 percent of all Santa Clara County schools have had some level of participation.
For more information on how to get involved, call 408.287.3598, or go to www.kidsvotingcalifornia.com.
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Willow Glen, California Since 1992
