October 20, 2020
The Civic Engagement Committee, one of eight student-led subcommittees of the Community Service Club, focuses on actively engaging students with social issues and empowering their voices in civic conversations. With activities ranging from voter registration and education to calling elected officials about relevant topics, it’s a great outlet for ETHS students to get politically involved by doing community service.
“Even though most students at ETHS aren’t old enough to vote yet, it’s still so important that we stay involved in our communities,” junior and committee leader Mira Littmann said. “It won’t be long before we grow up and have a big say in how the world works, and we should be informed and ready to create change and make the world we want to live in one day.”
One important form of engagement is education. For their first event of the year, Civic Engagement held a “chalk-out” on Sept. 21 to distribute information on candidates in the upcoming election and learn about the issues students are paying attention to.
“[Thirteen] passionate volunteers wrote and drew about the issues that mean the most to them this election cycle and received our fliers with the positions of important candidates on the local and national ballot,” senior and committee leader Ben Ward said. “Our ‘chalk-out’ was a fun and safe way to get students engaged in politics, and it was very successful.”
Leading into the election, Civic Engagement will continue working to keep ETHS students actively involved in politics by ensuring that students are registered to vote.
“We’re planning on sharing information about how to register to vote, why it’s important to [vote] and resources for education about all candidates,” Littmann said.
In October, Civic Engagement held events to brainstorm and design digital posters to distribute voting information widely on social media.
Ward expands on the importance of student engagement in politics, and why older people should begin to listen.
“By the time of the next presidential election, every single person at ETHS, along with millions of others across the country, will have reached voting age,” Ward said. “If today’s politicians don’t focus on the issues that matter to us, they will lose the support of our generation.”
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