Clarke Central High School seniors, school and community chaperones stand in front of the CCHS Ceremonial Entrance on Nov. 1 before beginning their walk to the Athens-Clarke County Library where 19 students voted for the first time. Board of Education District 1 Representative Greg Davis, who attended the field trip, encourages high school students to exercise their right to vote if eligible. “What I’m hoping is that we have as many students who are registered at Clarke Central as possible, and that all the registered students who are registered to vote, vote. And if they haven’t already voted, that they’re using this opportunity to do so, and that if they don’t use this opportunity, that they will certainly do it by Tuesday, closing the polls at 7 p.m.” Photo by Kelly Fulford
Clarke Central High School seniors walked to the Athens-Clarke County Library with CCSD faculty members and community members on Nov. 1 to cast their ballots for the Georgia General Elections.
On Nov. 1 at 8:45 a.m. in the Mell Auditorium, 19 Clarke Central High School seniors met with CCHS faculty members, Clarke County School District Board of Education members, local members of the Athens-Clarke County government and community activists to kick off the CCHS voting initiative field trip.
The field trip, which was facilitated by CAPS department teacher Stefan Smith, started off with speakers encouraging students to get involved through voting and other forms of civic engagement. Among those who spoke were organizers of the field trip and guest community members, including District 3 Commissioner Melissa Link.
“There are a lot of powerful people out there who want to keep voters like you from voting and wanna keep young people from voting and wanna keep people of color from voting,” Link said. “And the one way to fight back against that is to participate in our democracy and ensure that our democracy stays a democracy.”
After the opening words, students and chaperones walked to the Athens-Clarke County Library together to vote in the Georgia General Elections. Senior Dorisha Foster was excited to be voting for the first time.
“It’s exciting and it’s good that we can vote and get some people that’s bad out of the office,” Foster said. “(I’m voting for) Stacey Abrams, a Democrat. My family is Democratic in general, and then everything she speaks about, that’s just what we believe in.”
Newly elected BOE District 7 Representative LaKeisha Gantt accompanied students on the voting initiative field trip, and hoped that going in a group would make students feel more at ease casting ballots for the first time.
“Even when I go (vote), I always think that I’m doing something wrong or I have to go back through and be sure, did I really vote who I thought I was going to vote for? It’s not your everyday process. I remember as an 18-year-old, feeling that, ‘What do I do?’ And so, I think it is important to normalize that,” Gantt said. “It’s so fun when you have a group you can just go with.”
Upon arriving at the library, students stood in line to vote and then cast their ballots for the first time. Senior Jene’ Nicholson felt her experience voting for the first time went well.
“It was amazing. I’ve never experienced it but it was a good experience. It’s like for me to step into my adulthood, so it was really a good experience. It was very easy, just a few questions, that’s it,” Nicholson said. “I do (hope this continues). I’d prefer every school to do this now, actually, because that would look good on our community, as well.”
After voting, students ate lunch provided by the Economic Justice Coalition and then took a bus back to the school, which was contributed by Athens Transit.
Board of Education District 1 Representative Greg Davis, a member of the EJC, hopes that students on the field trip realized the power of their vote.
“I hope that people get into a habit of (voting) because I’m old enough to remember when 18-year-olds were given the right to vote,” Davis said. “For us it was a big deal, because it was a whole lot of people who were upset over the fact that Civil Rights was not moving quickly and there was a war in Vietnam and we were being asked to fight that war as 18, 19-year-olds, but voting age was 21.”
Newly elected BOE District 9 Representative Dr. Tawana Mattox, who helped organize the field trip, hopes that voting initiative field trips become a tradition in CCSD.
“I spoke to a few of the students and they told me they felt very good,” Mattox said. “They told me some of their parents had already voted, so I felt very honored that instead of voting with their parents, they would choose to celebrate this with their classmates, so that was an honor for us. I just think that it’s very exciting and something that we definitely can continue to do in the future.”
