Upper school ceramics teacher, Charity White (Andrew Barren’22/Media)
Charity White, our Upper School arts and ceramics teacher, has inspired 18 of our seniors to work the polls in the today’s election, along with Middle School art teacher, Pedro Mena, and long-term substitute, Laura Dachenbach, in an initiative at Academy, called “Youth at the Booth,” organized by Franklin County’s Board of Elections to encourage Ohio’s high school seniors to volunteer as poll workers.
Academy’s poll workers have excused absences on Tuesday and will work from 5:30 a.m. to later than 8:30 p.m.
White says, “On Election Day the polls are primarily run by senior citizens, and those are the people we need to be protecting most during the pandemic. When I looked into signing up, I came across the “Youth At the Booth” and thought this would be a wonderful opportunity for Academy to support our community in need.”
White says, “There are so many thoughtful and intelligent students at CA, and we as a school should not just be supporting those traits but encouraging them to put them to use through community and civic engagement.”
Additionally, White says, “I hope CA continues to develop its Youth at the Booth initiative and this year’s batch of seniors can inspire future seniors to volunteer. Some of the leading causes of low voter turnout among young voters are difficulty navigating the system and disillusionment with the process. I hope that by being actively engaged in the democratic process this will allow students to more easily understand and navigate the process so they can prioritize civic engagement for years to come.”
Ashi Gunawardena, one of the seniors participating in “Youth at the Booth” says, “Because I won’t be 18 by the election, I was really interested in finding some way other than voting to use my voice. I’m pretty engaged in politics, and this election felt too important to sit out completely. Because many poll workers may feel unsafe working during the pandemic, I thought this was a really valuable way to contribute to the functioning of our democracy.”
Joining Gunawardena are Caroline Bloomfield, Laura Campbell, Nischal Chenneru, Patrick Daly, Chloe Gouhin, William Heywood, Nia Law, CJ Leet, David Narayanan, Regina Ortiz, Olivia Pierre-Louis, Jahnea Potts, Cooper Schnitzer, Sophia Sommer, Bea Sull, Calvin Wade, and Miles Walter.
