Students participate in military donation drive

By Hayleigh Gowans

Staff Writer

Students in East Syracuse Minoa’s Pine Grove Middle School got the opportunity to experience a real life scenario many adults get the chance to experience today — voting.

On Nov. 7, students in sixth, seventh and eighth grades went to the library media center throughout the school day to partake in a mock election — which included everything from sign-in stations, voting booths and the distribution of “I voted” stickers.

Of the 674 students who voted, 3.6 percent of the votes went to Green Party candidate Jill Stein, 6.5 percent to Libertarian Party candidate Gary Johnson, 41.8 percent to Republican candidate Donald Trump and winning was Hillary Clinton with 48.1 percent.

“The students are talking about the election in pretty much all of their classes,” said Sue Kowalski, Pine Grove librarian, who set up the election with the help of volunteers. “We’re constantly teaching about the power of democracy. With the national significance of this election, we wanted students to know the power of their vote.”

After signing next to their name, students went to a voting booth where they logged into a laptop that had a Google Form where students made their choice. In addition, each student filled out a demographic form, which asked them their gender, grade and team so math classes can analyze the data.

Derek Wilson, a seventh grader, said he thought this experience was interesting and a good practice for later in life when the students reach the age to vote.

“We learned a bit about presidential elections in our Social Studies class,” said Wilson. “I think it’s nice we can try to show our opinion.”

Tied into this week’s events of Election Day and Veterans Day is a Gratitude Fest, where students are encourages bring in items for a platoon that is leaving Fort Drum for Afghanistan in early 2017, said Kowalski. Students are collecting items to send with the platoon, including toiletries, personal care items and non-perishable snacks.

“We want to show the students to be grateful for the right to vote, grateful for our volunteers helping out today … and to be grateful for the people who serve our country,” said Kowalski.

Those wishing to donate to the platoon collection drive can do so by calling the main office at 434-3050 and setting up a time to bring in the items.