Students ask, candidates answer at unique election forum
October 25, 2024 | By Camryn Brauns | Community News ServiceMiddle school students are years away from casting votes and participating in elections, but at Harwood Union Middle/High School, seventh-grade students banded together recently to address pressing local matters with candidates running for the state Legislature.
Waterbury House candidates Jonathan Griffin, Tom Stevens and Theresa Wood listen as student Zoe Wanner asks a question at the Harwood student candidate forum on Oct. 17. Photo by Gordon Miller
Fourteen candidates representing the Washington state Senate district, and the Washington-2 and Washington-Chittenden districts in the Vermont House were invited to the student-led forum held on Oct. 17. Only one of them was unavailable.
“We were surprised,” said Social Studies teacher Sarah Ibson. “At the time, it was one of the only forums for some of these candidates.”
Harwood Union’s teachers introduced the idea of a political forum project to the entire class in mid-September during a lesson on the branches of the U.S. government. To prepare, students began interviewing parents, school staff, and community members on important local political issues.
“We can’t vote, but we can try and get other people to vote,” student Luca Propato said.
Student Julia Hill (far right) puts a question to all six Washington state Senate candidates. Left to right: Ann Cummings, Michael Deering, Mike Doyle, Donald Koch, Andrew Perchlik and Anne Watson. Photo by Lisa Scagliotti
In her second year teaching at Harwood, English teacher Meredith Vaughn said she helped host a political forum with students at her previous job at St. Albans City School and was inspired by former colleague John Cioffi to share this experience with her Harwood students.
“In 2022, I was able to see firsthand what an impactful and immersive learning experience it was for students,” Vaughn said. “Sarah and I teamed up, and she created an entire unit in Social Studies class to support the forum.”
Students Nora Foley and Leslie Rayburn seated in front of the stage are time-keeping and running the slideshow. Photo by Gordon Miller
Participating in the forum was not mandatory, but students said most of the 67 seventh graders volunteered because it seemed fun. What was initially introduced as an assignment by the teachers became a student-driven event.
“I feel like a lot of us got more involved than we thought we would have,” said seventh-grade volunteer Narumi Anderson.
“I kind of thought we would just write the script and ask questions, but I feel like once you start learning about [candidates] it’s kind of cool to see what they actually believe in,” Anderson said.
At first, student River Kessler saw this as just another of his many after-school activities. The time he spent working on the forum revealed a deeper appreciation for local democracy.
“It’s important to know who is running for the Senate and the House of Representatives and what they do and their beliefs,” Kessler said.
Student volunteers used VTDigger’s Election Guide and candidates’ websites to research the attending politicians and create informational posters displayed outside the auditorium where the forum was held.
Student Thea Anderson (far right) poses a question to House candidates in the Washington-2 (left) and Washington-Chittenden (right) races at the Harwood student candidate forum on Oct. 17. (Order on the right is Griffin, Stevens, Wood) Photo by Gordon Miller
Just before 6 p.m. last Thursday, participating students welcomed and directed attendees heading to the school auditorium – parents, candidates, school staff including Harwood’s principal and the school district superintendent, along with various community members.
The volunteers were responsible for all aspects of the forum, from formulating questions and moderating the discussion to practical tasks like assisting with directions, keeping time, and running a bake sale to raise money for a class field trip.
Candidates for each race were given one minute to answer each question drafted and posed by the students. They were not informed of the questions beforehand.
“It's important to know that you are putting them on the spot and knowing what they would do,” Anderson said, “Not that they still can’t twist their words, but it's harder when they are being put on the spot.”
Students developed the questions after interviewing eligible voters, including parents and teachers to get an idea of some of the issues they might cover in the forum. The most pressing topics were taxes, school funding, flood mitigation and housing.
Students Camille Brown and Willow Powell-Corbett wrap up the forum and ask attendees to fill out their exit survey. Photo by Gordon Miller
Students drafted questions based on this feedback. The first question put to both groups was: “What qualities do you have that make you a good candidate for office?”
Candidates also were asked to share their ideas on how to address Vermont’s housing crisis, flood mitigation and other pressing local matters.
Given the setting and this year’s public attention on school budgets and property taxes – the Harwood district took three votes to approve the current school budget – the first issue question students put to the candidates was: “What are your thoughts on how Vermont should address school funding?
Those funding challenges have a huge impact on these students’ lives. They appreciated being able to raise these issues on behalf of voters, and some candidates acknowledged the youth’s interest.
“Even if we can’t vote, it still affects us. Even if we can’t vote on the school budget, the budget still affects us. (Whoever) is running for the Senate or House of reps, their actions still affect us even if we can't vote.” Anderson said.
Left to right: Teacher Sarah Ibson; students Willow Powell-Corbett, Camille Brown, Zoe Wanner, Narumi Anderson, Naomi Niewiadomski (in back), Thea Anderson, Julia Hill, Wyatt Nagurney, and teacher Meredith Vaughn. Photo by Gordon Miller
The forum was covered by several media outlets: WCAX, Waterbury Roundabout and UVM’s Community News Service journalism internship program. Mad River Valley Television broadcast a livestream of the entire event and that recording is online on its YouTube channel.