About 100,000 students across the province will cast a ballot as part of Student Vote this spring.
More than 700 schools have registered in the program, which is in its 10th year, and is the 20th Student Vote program.
“The purpose of Student Vote is to engage students in the democratic process and develop the skills of citizenship with students under the voting age. As well, and possibly more importantly, is to provide future voters with a voice in this campaign, so that politicians and political parties can address their concerns,” said Taylor Gunn, president of CIVIX and chief election officer of Student Vote.
As part of Student Vote, students can learn about the voting process, the candidates in their area, hold debates with the candidates, and at the end they hold a mock vote to select which candidate they would vote for. Those results will then be shared with Global BC on May 14.
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This is a map of all the schools in B.C. that are registered:
Doug Robertson teaches grade 5 at McMillan Elementary School in Abbotsford, and has been part of the Student Vote program since the beginning.
He said he likes the program because it provides a lot of information about elections and voting in a kid-friendly format.
“[The kids] see and can get involved on the real world,” he said. “Students at this age are just beginning to think about about the larger world outside of their own interests and family. Things like news and current events are just starting to make sense to them. Having such an obvious and visible current event happening all around them really helps them to see the bigger picture.”
Robertson said he also likes when the parents get involved and the students discuss with their parents about the issues that matter to them.“I love to see the students really get into the unit,” he said. “In the past I have had students raid campaign offices to get samples of promotional material and bring it to school to use for projects. We have class debates, mock campaigns and had students vote with their parents. We have a school election complete with real polling booths and ballots.”“All of these things give me energy as a teacher, and make me feel that I am making a difference in the lives of my students.”Karlee Cook teaches grades 5 and 6 in Dease Lake and this year will be the second time she is participating in the Student Vote program.“I have decided to participate in this program again because it was so rewarding the first time,” she said. “To back up a bit, in the grade five B.C. curriculum, government is one topic we are encouraged to teach. So, before even hearing about Student Vote, I was thinking to myself how am I going to make government and politics interesting let alone find a way to make it fun to teach.”With Student Vote, Cook was able to teach her students vocabulary, and basic information about democracy and politics. She said her students did previously not know anything about voting and provincial politics.
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“The excitement of seeing the students run into the classroom after the election night and [they] couldn’t wait to tell me who had officially won was what really encouraged me to do this again,” said Cook. “Politics was made exciting and interesting, and that is hard to do with children.”
Cook said each student had a job to do throughout the process and they took their roles very seriously.
Teaching the program in Dease Lake is going to prevent its own challenges however.
“In Nelson, the election was all over the town,” said Cook. “In the news, in the newspapers, and where the students saw it the most, on billboards or on people’s front lawns. I also sent home information for the parents and students to fill out with their kids when they were watching TV or walking around town.”
“Here, even the thought of the election is nowhere to be found outside of their house as well as inside of their house,” she added. “No one is talking about it! We will not see the MP of this region, because the Stikine is so large! That being said, I know I am going to have to supplement my lessons this time around with different fun and exciting video clips and movies about elections and politics.”
Gunn said Elections Canada has found three beneficiaries from the Student Vote program, teachers, students and parents.
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“For me the most interesting part of Student Vote is the change in engagement of students reported to us by teachers,” said Gunn. “They tell us that at the beginning of the campaign when they describe the program, students are not interested. By the end of the campaign, their students are more knowledgeable than their parents and entirely engaged in the election.”
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