On February 4th, 2021, the Civic Spirit Student Delegates joined virtually for their Kick-Off event.
These students represent the dynamic demographic landscape of America. Putting aside their differences, they learned to work together, forged genuine relationships, and rolled up their sleeves to do important civic work.
From February-June, the Delegates have been immersed in a rotation of civic learning and problem-solving.
They met regularly as a group and in committees, all within the context of a demanding COVID-driven academic year.
Together, they built content knowledge through workshops, reports, and interviews with voters, governmental officials, and non-profit professionals.
Moreover, our young people applied this knowledge in authentic and meaningful ways by collaborating, designing, producing, posting, and writing reports as ambassadors for American democracy.
We are awed by the leadership and attentiveness exhibited by the Student Delegates, and we are relieved and hopeful that these dedicated students are the future of America!
Their busy calendar included:
- Establishing trust and norms through art, poetry, and reflection exercises.
- Attending training workshops on Ranked Choice Voting (RCV).
- Learning about techniques and impacts of qualitative research on public policy and voter engagement.
- Exploring how to apply these strategies in our work.
- Engaging in serious research on the history of RCV, the costs and benefits of this new voting process, and strategies to maintain voter participation in NYC.
- Interviewing members of Vote16, NYC Campaign Finance Board, and the Bipartisan Policy Center.
- Developing a strategy to promote voter participation in the June 22nd primary election with a focus on educating the public about Ranked Choice Voting.
- Creating Official Committees to target a range of responsibilities including Researching, Social Media, HR, and writing a Policy Brief.
- Working with experts in the field to build professional-level skills in their committee work.
For their capstone project, the Student Delegates intertwined creativity and knowledge to create three important tools for educating New Yorkers about RCV:
(1) PSA
(2) Policy Brief
(3) Social Media Education
The only PSA on RCV you will ever need to see.
Video by Shulamit Photo + Video @shulamitphotovideo
The Policy Brief that says it all in less than 1,000 words.
Educating the public about RCV–from post to post.
- Abraham Joshua Heschel School (Manhattan, NY)
- Bishop Loughlin Memorial High School (Brooklyn, NY)
- Ma’ayanot Yeshiva High School (Teaneck, NJ)
- Martin Saints Classical High School (Oreland, PA)
- St. Jean Baptiste High School (Manhattan, NY)
- Xaverian High School (Brooklyn, NY)
- Yeshiva University High School for Girls (Queens, NY)
“Civic Education is about creating problem-solving minds.”