Though most students at Thomas S. Wootton High School aren’t yet old enough to vote, it doesn’t mean they can’t get involved with civic activism.
That was the message behind the school’s week of programming aimed at getting students talking about election-year issues — and getting older students out to the polls. The week, organized by the Student Government Association and BBYO, an organization for Jewish youth, included a ‘‘Rock the Vote”-style concert featuring the Pat McGee Band and Gym Class Heroes at the school on Thursday.
‘‘We’ve got to stay relevant to the kids — this was the school trying to stay relevant,” said Wootton Principal Michael Doran.
More than 2,500 students and community members came out to the show, which was also sponsored by several other area youth-oriented groups.
U.S. Rep. Christopher Van Hollen Jr. (D-Dist. 8) of Kensington and State Sen. Rob Garagiola (D-Dist. 15) of Germantown spoke to the crowd before the band struck up.
‘‘Even if you’re not voting age, you can still convince a lot of other people to vote,” Van Hollen said.
Each year, student government representatives choose a theme for their end of year weeklong project, Doran said. This year, students chose civic engagement.
‘‘There are a lot of schools who don’t want to talk about politics because it’s controversial,” said Naomi Kim, 18, vice president of Wootton’s Student Government Association. ‘‘We’re lucky the administration was willing to work with us.”
Doran admitted that tackling politics at school was a bit of a risk, but he said it was well worth it.
‘‘Every high school in the country in its mission statement...will say we want to help kids to be productive citizens,” Doran said. ‘‘But we never teach it, we never talk about it.”
During the week, student government representatives developed curriculums around election year issues — getting students talking about the environment in science classes, health care issues in physical education and social security and foreign policy in social studies.
Friday, students attended a volunteer fair where more than 30 local organizations in need of volunteer support set up booths and handed out information packets, eager to enlist the younger generation in their cause.
‘‘We’ve had a lot of response; we’ve had a lot of young people picking up information about volunteering with the county,” said Molly Callaway, operations manager for the Montgomery County Volunteer Center, one of the organizations represented at the fair.
Others included the Save Darfur Coalition, National Coalition for the Homeless and the Montgomery County Humane Society.
‘‘We learned about D.C. voting rights,” said Adam Firestone, a Wootton freshman who attended the fair. ‘‘D.C. is unfairly taxed and not represented in Congress.” Firestone said he signed up to receive more information about the cause.
According to Sarah Shapiro of BBYO, one major theme of the week was to provide a way for kids under 18 to find other ways to get involved besides voting.
‘‘Civic activism can be accessed through a number of different venues,” Shapiro said. ‘‘It’s about feeling empowered to be part of the process, whether or not you can vote.”
The group developed a Web site called My 2 Cents for Change, in which students too young to vote can write in to the candidates about issues that are important for them. The group recently sent more than 1,500 comments from young people to the presidential candidates.
‘‘They may not be connected to the election as a whole, but they can look at the issues and see how it affects them and their family,” Shapiro said.
For students old enough to vote, student government representatives said they hoped the week would encourage them to get registered and get to the polls. Students set up a voter registration booth at the concert.
‘‘We’re not telling anybody what to think or how to vote,” Doran said. ‘‘But we want [students] to think and have feelings and opinions about these issues.”
