Van Buren County High School has earned the Ann Dallas Dudley Gold Level Award for the second consecutive year after successfully registering 100 percent of its eligible students to vote.
History Teacher Shane Hall said registering students before they graduate is a priority because the transition into college or the workforce often makes civic duties less of a priority. Hall said he has observed many adults realize they are not registered only when they arrive at the polls on election day.
“Well, you know, life just gets busy, I mean, to be honest these high school students are kind of busy anyway, but, um, life is really busy for them coming up, you know, here shortly, because they’re going to be going off to school and college or the workforce,” Hall said. “And so, um, sometimes things like this just don’t become a priority, um, and I’ve seen far too often with people my age that felt that way too, that whenever it did become important to them, they had forgotten or not realized they weren’t registered, so then that became an issue on election day.”
Hall said the award recognizes high schools that reach the 100 percent registration threshold for students who will be 18 years old by a specific deadline. Hall said the school began preparing for the achievement months in advance by tracking student birthdays and holding senior meetings to discuss the registration process.
“I talked to all of them, gave them the whole, you know, speech about why it’s important, gave them a speech to let them know that even if they didn’t think it was important, reasons why to go ahead and do it now,” Hall said. “And so we just kept track of everybody based on their birthdays and, and uh, hunted them down and, and walked them through the steps online.”
Hall said student ambassadors and peers also played a role in the initiative by encouraging classmates not to procrastinate. Hall said students shared their own perspectives on why a single vote matters during the drive.
“Absolutely, absolutely, yeah, we had, um, a couple that were honored that day when the secretary came by,” Hall said. “And, um, you know, we had other students that encouraged saying like, hey you need to do this, it’s important or don’t procrastinate, you know, stuff like that.”
Hall said the school administration supported the effort by providing student birthday data and allowing teachers to pull students from class to complete the registration process. Hall said school counselors assisted students who did not know their social security numbers to ensure they could finish the online application.
“Um, our administration takes it seriously, they help us out, they give us whatever we want, um, the other teachers help us they say hey whatever you want, um, matter of fact my neighbor next door to me there was several times that I was like hey can I borrow so-and-so and take them out and he was like whatever you need brother, um, stuff like that,” Hall said. “And then like I said the kids you know just this year in particular I didn’t I don’t remember one kid putting up a fight saying I don’t want to do that, it’s a waste of time.”
Hall said civic engagement is particularly vital in small communities like Van Buren County where local elections are often decided by a few hundred votes. Hall said the school displays a plaque and photos of the achievement in the hallway to spark interest among younger students.
“I think it’s, I think it’s huge, you know, we at our school, um, most students have never heard of this and so last year when we won it, we put up, we you receive a plaque, you get a big picture, so this picture’s hung up in the hallway and so students ask about it,” Hall said. “We get a shout out from the the secretary on social medias which that gets their attention a little bit as well but I think it’s a a big impact because these these kids are going to one day, you know, everybody does for the most part, they’re going to realize hey this stuff is important, if they don’t already.”
Hall said he and colleague Ms. McGowen intend to pursue the gold level recognition every year they remain at the high school.