April 4, 2008
When Caroline Kennedy, daughter of former President John Kennedy, recently endorsed Barack Obama, she said one of the reasons was her three teenaged children who began "convincing" her last year. And while Kennedy's children cannot vote, the momentum of this year's election is infecting their too-young-to-vote age group.
In light of this political enthusiasm, Y-Press, a youth-media organization, is exploring the younger-than-voting-age interest in the election and issues.
The Indianapolis-based youth journalists have created two surveys to learn what kids under 18 think about the important issues and candidates of the 2008 elections.
"Many times youth voices are unheard. We feel that today's youth are invaluable resources that must be tapped," said 15-year-old editor Jonathan Gainer. "The purpose of the surveys and subsequent stories are to give youth the means to be heard."
Click here to participate in Y-Press's issues survey
Click here to participate in the candidates' survey
ATTACHED STORIES:
09/02/2010
Why does this middle-schooler call himself Wisconsin’s youth activist? At age 14, Asher Heimermann has a Web site (www.asherheimermann.com) with tens of thousands of visitors, a radio show that airs every week, and a voice that demands...
09/02/2010
When David Burstein was in high school, it never occurred to him that politics might be irrelevant to his life. He grew up watching CNN and accompanying his parents in voting booths.
09/02/2010
Shaw High School senior Jonathan Lykes is not your typical high schooler. As a matter of fact, he was
called an “overachiever” by The Columbus Dispatch. You see, for the past year, Jonathan has been helping to lead the Ohio Youth...
09/02/2010
Nic Morden is an officer in the Junior State of America chapter at Central Valley High School in Spokane. JSA is a nationwide, non-profit organization composed of more than 500,000 high school students who are interested in politics and...
09/02/2010
Fifteen-year-old Rachel Swanson has a history of political activism. Coming from a politically active family (her dad worked as a legislative aide for Iowa Sen. Tom Harkin) she's continuing the tradition at Bryan Station High School, where...
09/02/2010
Youth today often have unlimited access to multiple forms of communication and have been called the most connected generation. It is not uncommon, for example, for a kid to spend several hours each night instant messaging friends,...
09/02/2010
Megan Waggoner’s first love is the environment. She is active in Alaska Youth for Environmental Action and traveled to Washington, D.C., last year to attend the President’s Environmental Youth Awards ceremony, which recognized her...
09/02/2010
Raheel Anwer joined the Mikva Challenge Club at Amundsen High School in Chicago without knowing that it would take him to New Hampshire, standing next to Hillary and Chelsea Clinton.
09/02/2010
Nik Ritchie helped start the Ron Paul club at the University of Central Florida. Although John McCain appears headed for the Republican nomination, Ritchie feels that Paul accomplished a lot. “No one knew who he was before he ran for...
09/02/2010
Shoshana Akabas is editor in chief of Political Fire, a political newspaper at Stuyvesant High School, a renowned public school in New York. She hasn’t always been interested in politics — a few years ago, she was pretty apathetic even...
09/02/2010
As a teenager, Beth Foster has had an ongoing interest in politics. In 2005, she worked on the governor’s campaign in Virginia, and then in 2006, she helped out in a congressional campaign.
09/02/2010
Four years ago, Conor Rogers saw a need for political volunteers and created the New Jersey Teenage Republican Organization (www.njtars.org) to mobilize young people. Though it started out as a school club, it expanded to serve the county...
09/02/2010
Rachel Briggs is a youth volunteer for the Obama campaign in Honolulu, HI. Organizing supporters’ contact information, working at fund-raising events, and starting a student chapter in her district are some of Rachel’s...
09/02/2010
Jennifer Jones has been politically active since she was a high school freshman. Since then, she has worked passionately for the Democratic Party. She sees no problem with continuing her activism after high school, as she will be attending...
09/02/2010
Jack Boeglin has been following Barack Obama since his speech at the Democratic National Convention in 2004. After doing some research, he decided to start a chapter of Students For Barack Obama at his high school.
09/02/2010
It took a while, but the Blunt Youth Radio Project has helped Gavin Bauer find his voice.
09/02/2010
Upon graduating from Coronado High School, Shaina Soloman will have more notches on her political belt than many adults. A highly motivated Democrat, Shaina has started a Young Democrats chapter, served as a caucus delegate, volunteered...
09/02/2010
Much has been written and reported on the throngs of youth involved in the presidential primaries and caucuses. But will youth actually have an impact on the general election? Will activism translate into votes?
09/02/2010
According to CIRCLE, the Center for Information & Research on Civic Learning and Engagement at the University of Maryland, more than 32 million youth ages 18 to 25 will be eligible to vote in the upcoming election. If 55 percent of these...
09/02/2010
Despite living in Michigan's remote Upper Peninsula, Pryce Hadley has been able to maintain a high level of political activism. At Marquette Senior High School, from which he just graduated, he participated in "We the People," a...
09/02/2010
Molly Kawahata takes the term "campaign worker" to a whole new level. The high school senior rearranged her school schedule to have an earlier release in order to have more time to work as the national high school director for Sen. Barack...
09/02/2010
Erika Sylvester has filled her year with political activity. She
volunteers on the re-election campaign of U.S. Sen. Max Baucus and has been an active supporter of both Democratic presidential candidates.
09/02/2010
Jimmy Van Eerden is the oldest of 10 children, so he's used
to taking the lead in projects. Spurred on by a friend's frustrations, he began holding voter registration drives by age 14.
09/02/2010
Pollsters and analysts love to identify voting blocs, using them to explain voting trends and to make projections. The Latino voting bloc has been repeatedly analyzed, often getting credit for swaying elections, such as the 2004...
09/02/2010
Dedicating hours to student voter registration, promoting youth involvement in politics, and all the while campaigning for John Parker for Montana attorney general and for herself as a precinct committeewoman, Caitie Boland is the epitome...
09/02/2010
Peter Christensen, 17, and his brother Alex, 14, are from Escalante, Utah, a town of 818, according to the last census. While the boys enjoy outdoors activities such as fishing and hiking, they are both officers in the Garfield County Teen...
09/02/2010
In DeKalb County, Democratic incumbent Harold Bobo was going unchallenged in the 2008 school board primary. Sterlin Pendergrass stepped up to make sure everyone’s voice was heard.
09/02/2010
When Adam Lussier realized that he was nearing voting age, he decided to do some research on the presidential candidates. Like most teens, he headed straight to the Web, where he "stumbled upon" Ron Paul's Web site and liked what he read....
09/02/2010
Anyone who knew Heidi Bentley wouldn’t have guessed that she could play a significant role in a campaign to elect Tom Parker to the Alabama Supreme Court. Even the twins, Alex and Brett Harris, who delegated the tasks to her didn’t...
09/02/2010
Attending the University of North Carolina this fall, Glenn McLaurin has done much in the way of helping his community in Wake County, N.C. As an only child, his parents always gave him a forum. He thought if he had that opportunity in...
09/02/2010
Do Latinos vote as a bloc? According to students at Duarte High School in Los Angeles County, the answer is sometimes.
09/02/2010
Zach Ammerman has always enjoyed politics. Now, after working on Hillary Clinton's campaign, he hopes to make a career out of it.
09/02/2010
At age 15, Raven Robinson decided that she wanted to pursue a career in public service, and she's been busy ever since. Not only has she held a series of leadership roles in her school's student government, she's been involved in several...
09/02/2010
Amanda Randall has been involved in politics since age 13. For five of those years she's been active in the Teen Age Republicans, a group affiliated with the Republican Party that is dedicated to getting young people involved in the...
09/02/2010
Four years ago, Ava Lowery was frustrated. She felt that just speaking out against the war in Iraq wasn't enough and decided to combine her love of video, journalism and politics and start a Web site, www.peacetakescourage.com.
09/02/2010
In Mississippi, the summer of 1963 was a violent one — 30 black homes and 37 black churches were firebombed, and more than 80 civic activists were beaten. The following summer, about 40 Freedom Schools were opened, dedicated to creating...
09/02/2010
This election, much fuss has been made about the voting potential of young adults. Candidates have reached out to youth through social networking sites, such as Facebook and MySpace, and in frequent visits to college campuses.But part of...
09/02/2010
Ari Siesser has always had a burning passion for politics, but he has become even more inspired to act as the country’s economic situation deteriorates. “According to research I read, it looks like it’s going to exceed everyone’s...
By Hrishikesh Deshpande, 13, Max Gabovitch, 15, Jonathan Gainer, 16, David Glass, 18, Mallory St. Claire, 17, Sarah Zabel, 15, Millie Cripe, 15, Jordan Denari, 17, Quinn Andrews, 14, Katie Bolinger, 18
09/02/2010
Considering how important young people have been to this election cycle, it's not surprising that their journalistic peers have the same enthusiasm for covering it.
By Paul Winston, 16, Pratik Cherian, 17, Tommy Mangan, 12, Jake Thornburgh, 15, Becky Mangan, 13, Justin Byers, 15, Jordan Gaither, 17, Tommaso Verderame, 15, Ariana Gainer, 13
09/02/2010
While seasoned politicians resort to kissing babies or begging for corporate contributions to gain a national audience, a 15-year-old simply wrote 434 powerful words. Those words propelled her to a coveted speaking spot during the...
09/02/2010
Last evening I spent nearly five hours inside the Xcel Center. While there were multiple speakers, it was former New York mayor and former Republican presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani whom I would most like to meet. He was funny, honest...
09/02/2010
Entering the Xcel Center on Sept. 3, I could sense the excitement building inside the massive 650,000-square-foot stadium as thousands waited for the greatest show on Earth, or at least the greatest show in St. Paul, Minn.
09/02/2010
Randy Rashad Gaines is president of the Young Democrats of South Carolina, the youth-led arm of the state's Democratic Party. He explains his role as "an agent for change and an advocate for the underdog."
09/02/2010
Are you tired of being that kid who's always left on the outside of any conversation or group activity? Jose Juan Cruz was before he joined YouthBiz in Denver. The organization was founded in Denver's Five-Points neighborhood by an adult...
09/02/2010
Taylor Bundy is one of the many young supporters of Barack Obama. She credits her politically active mom for inspiring her to become involved. They both signed up for the Obama campaign in March when the primaries became increasingly...
09/02/2010
On a warm September morning, we sat in our elementary school classrooms and watched collapsing towers on T.V. We heard whispers of an attack, and many of our classmates were whisked out of school by nervous parents.
09/02/2010
Indiana does not appear to be a champion of green energy, with carbon emissions consistently putting us among the 10 biggest offenders in the United States.
09/02/2010
Keith Ellison started his journey as a political activist at age 18. On Detroit's Wayne State University campus, he protested and petitioned to end South African apartheid in the 1980s.
09/02/2010
Victoria Blackstone, Ashley Gunn, Mike Knopf:
What makes you so special?
Why did you get into the Xcel Center, site of the Republican National Convention, and Y-Press did not?
09/02/2010
Entering the Xcel Center on Sept. 3, I could sense the excitement building inside the massive 650,000-square-foot stadium as thousands waited for the greatest show on Earth, or at least the greatest show in St. Paul, MN.
09/02/2010
After hearing John McCain speak at the Republican National Convention, it made me think about my grandpa's picture on top of our piano. In the photograph he is wearing a uniform, and I can see a resemblance to Sen. McCain.
PHOTO GALLERY
RADIO
McCain reporter notebook: The town-hall meeting
McCain reporter notebook: Campaigning style
McCain reporter notebook: McCain on health and fitness
Young Republicans on McCain
Views on domestic violence
Gas prices
Immigrant youth
McCain on Social Security
Y-Press tackles the candidates
Cool factor
