Mrs. Terrell and voting primaries

The primaries are now over, and not very many people at Mt. Vernon High were aware of them, but Mrs. Terrell, who teaches AP Government, AP European History, and Modern World Civics Honors, wanted to change that. Through GenerationOn.org, she was able to receive a grant.

GenerationOn.org is a program used to promote service learning from kindergarten through grade  12. There are workshops available for different service opportunities. One class was about civic responsibility, or the duty as an American to participate in democracy. The grant’s purpose is to promote the Indiana primaries and remind people to achieve their civic responsibility.

“Most people don’t even know about the primaries,” Mrs. Terrell stated. “I think it would be a great idea to let the community know where the primaries are happening. It’s good to encourage people to do their civic duty.”

The students of her AP Government class also took part.

“My peers seemed to be unusually ramped up to vote in the primaries,” said Matthew Rollo, 12. “Mrs. Terrell’s GOTV (political science terminology for “get out the vote”) effort has strongly encouraged her students to engage in a stereotypically underwhelming portion of the democratic process. As for the community, just having a few eager students at the local high school is enough to start a snowball effect in decreasing voter apathy. We also have road signs that inform residents of when the primary is, and often enough, all it takes to get someone to act is a subtle reminder!”

Mrs. Terrell and her AP Government class took steps to let people know about the primaries. She purchased posters and yards signs and put them up around town. She also let people register for voting during lunch. Mrs. Terrell even talked to businesses and went to the McCordsville and Fortville town halls and gave them signs as well as a banner to put up.