Dr. Freddie Thomas H.S. Students ‘Gettin out the Vote’ By Dave McCleary
Thu, Oct 30, 2008  Although Ailanda Martinez is not old enough to vote she realizes the importance of being involved in the election process. Martinez is an eleventh grade student at Dr. Freddie Thomas High School and is participating in the school's "Getting Out the Vote" campaign.
As part of the school wide effort, about fifty students from the school at 625 Scio Street will go to the polls for the first time on Tuesday, November 3.
"I decided to join the election group in my English class because my teacher, Miss Abdul-Mateen, said I was a good debater," explains Martinez "We got the names of the students who are 18 and over who are eligible to vote. We printed it out, we designed a poster and hung it in the cafeteria on September 30 and we set up a table during lunch time and registered students."
Principal Sandy Jordan says the goal of the program is to create lifetime voters. "Our first-time voter program will help students feel comfortable with the process and increase their confidence in using the voting machines. It's a first step in helping them become active participants in the democratic process."
At 9:40 a. m., on election day, three busses will depart the school to take student to the polling places designated for their home addresses.
Moses Best is one of the students who will be voting on Tuesday for the first time. Declining to reveal which presidential candidate he's picking, he says he follows the media coverage of the presidential race. He does share with us some of his insight for this election saying, "I think this is a history making event."
The program was put together by teachers and administrators at the school. English Teacher, Latoya Manon told us, "we wanted to figure out the best way to get the students involved so we started out by getting responses from the teachers as to why they vote so the kids could see that people vote for many reasons or just because it's their civic duty to vote,"
"I think it has been a really positive experience for the students." says English teacher Tara Ramirez. "They really got involved and they realize that this election will affect them more so than anybody."
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