At Cesar Chavez Public Charter High School for Public Policy, election day became a true celebration of democracy. Robin Spence, a teacher and the public policy director, along with Mary Finn, history chair, helped organize an entire day around Kids Voting USA civic learning themes on November 2, 2004.

Students participated in activities from Kids Voting USA’s Civics Alive! including in-depth discussions of voting rights and voting history. Of course, Election Day wouldn’t be complete without the opportunity to cast a ballot – Cesar Chavez students voted using DoubleClick Democracy, Kids Voting USA’s proprietary Web-based voting system.

Many other activities took place, both at the school and off campus. Small groups of students traveled to local polling precincts and conducted exit polling. The young people learned much more than just how the adults voted. One girl remarked that she asked a voter a simple question and ended up learning about the last 20 years of American history!

A debate was held with the entire student body gathered in the cafeteria at the end of the day. Two lucky students represented the candidates, John Kerry and George W. Bush. Students eagerly listened to the “candidates” as they shared their views and made rebuttals. Given the chance to ask questions, the audience seized the opportunity and covered a full range of issues. The debate closed with students cheering on their “candidate.”

While the students at Cesar Chavez took part in valuable classroom civic learning, their extraordinary Election Day experience brought that learning to life. Connecting with the community and the political process helped the teens relate their contributions as citizens to our larger representative democracy.