[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 46 (Monday, April 25, 1994)]
[Senate]
[Page S]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[Congressional Record: April 25, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
NATIONAL STUDENT/PARENT MOCK ELECTION
Mr. KENNEDY. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the
following letter of the National Student/Parent Mock Election be
printed in the Record.
There being no objection, the letter was ordered to be printed in the
Record, as follows:
National Student/Parent
Mock Election,
April 12, 1994.
Mr. Speaker: I would like to call the Congress' attention
to one of the most successful parent involvement projects in
the nation. Over 5 million American students and parents in
all 50 states, Washington, D.C., and overseas (Germany,
England, Scotland, Italy, Portugal, Bahrain, France, Holland,
Japan, Korea, The Marshall Islands, Guam, The Virgin Islands,
and Puerto Rico) participated in the 1992 National Student/
Parent Mock Election. They met all across the country and
around the world to cast their votes on who would win the
national elections and to vote their ``recommendations to the
President and Congress'' on six key national issues. Every
state had a ``State Election Headquarters.'' ``State Election
Headquarters'' called their votes in to ``National Election
Headquarters'', as over 20 million viewers watched on
national television. A national television program was aired
for two hours on C-SPAN, showing students, and parents all
across the country participating in the project's activities
Scholastic Magazines has joined the Mock Election coalition
and by 1996 will provide Mock Election materials to 20+
million students, elementary through high school.
The University of Colorado's formal evaluation of the 1992
National Student/Parent Mock Election found participating
students showed increases in:
Political decision-making ability;
Informed involvement on current issues;
The belief that voting is important;
The belief that Social Studies classes are relevant;
The discussion of political and election topics with
parents; and
A reduction in the feeling of powerlessness.
I am pleased to announce that my own state, Massachusetts,
was a winner of the Time/NASBE Award for ``Outstanding
Leadership in Voter Education'' in conjunction with the
National Student/Parent Mock Election. The awards, for the
best statewide Mock Election projects will be presented here
at the Capital on April 26.
The Massachusetts' Mock Election was organized by a
coalition of 18 newspapers, the Massachusetts Newspaper in
Education Council led by the Lawrence Eagle Tribune., the
Massachusetts League of Women Voters, the Bank of Boston and
Boston Celtic, Dee Brown, who all worked together to bring
materials, programs and funds to schools.
The Eagle-Tribune was ``State Election Headquarters.''
Local students answered phones all day and tallied election
results. The 1992 Massachusetts Student/Parent Mock Election
was an overwhelming success; more than 174,000 students cast
their votes.
I would like to congratulate the Lawrence Eagle-Tribune and
the other Time/NASBE Award winners as well. They are:
California Association of Student Councils, Mr. Gil Soltz
and San Jose Mercury News, Ms. Kathleen Franger.
The Hartford Courant, Ms. Marcy Munoz/Ms. Colette Yeich,
and Connecticut League of Women Voters, Ms. Jill Cromwell.
Maryland State Department of Education, Ms. Susan Travetto.
The Eagle-Tribune, Ms. Stephanie Johnson.
Genesee Intermediate School District, Ms. Barbara Harper/
Ms. Rachel Moreno, and Detroit Newspaper Agency, Ms. Sharon
Zumberg, Missouri School Boards Association, Mr. Brent Ghan.
Northeastern Educational Television of Ohio, Inc., Mr.
Steve Mitchell/Ms. Cathy Burwell.
Tennessee Department of Education, Mr. Doug Vickers.
At the April 26 kick-off for the 1994 National Student/
Parent Mock Election in the U.S. Capitol, two new National
Student/Parent Mock Election awards will be presented as
well, The NASSP/John Herklotz Award for ``outstanding
contributions to teaching democracy'' for the best schoolwide
Mock Election projects, and the NASC/Ruth Hollander award for
``outstanding contributions to participation in democracy''
for the best student led projects. I would like to
congratulate these winners:
NASSP/JOHN HERKLOTZ AWARD
Washington Elementary School, Kathleen Meistrell.
R.R. Moton Elementary School, Don Strahan.
Lehr Public School, Yvonne Engelhart.
Lewis F. Mayer Junior High School, Jane G. Bechtel.
Forest Hills Middle School, Rosemary Raptosh.
Felten Middle School, Kay Maska.
Overbrook School, Caroline Baker.
Norview High School, Catherine J. Lassiter.
Pleasants County Middle School, John Eichorn.
Tongue River Middle School, Merry O'Hare.
Grayslake Middle School, Eric Skoog.
Metcalf Elementary School, Christine Southworth.
NASC/RUTH HOLLANDER AWARD
Palm Beach Lakes Student Council, Stuart Sabin, Advisor of
Student Council/Activities Director.
Associated Student Congress of Baltimore City, Mal
Dutterer, Specialist, Student Relations Office.
Huntsville High School Student Council, Shirley Jackson,
Faculty Advisor.
Kentucky Youth Association/State YMCA, Michael D. Haynes,
Executive Director.
On November 3, 1994, In 1994, American students and parents
will once again meet in all 50 states and all around the
world to cast their votes on who will win the Congressional
and Gubernatorial elections. (The key questions will be which
party will win control of the Senate? the House? the
Governorships?, and vote their recommendations on 6 key
national issues. The results of their vote will be the
``Recommendation of America's Students and Parents to the
Congress and the Governors'').
The U.S. Congress has voted an appropriation for the 1994
National Student/Parent Mock Election and the objective of
the kick-off in the Capitol is to invite all of America's
students and parents to participate. The National Student/
Parent Mock Election is Co-Chaired by Paul G. Kirk, Jr. and
Frank J. Fahrenkopf, Jr. and has been endorsed by both the
Democratic and Republican National Committees, 50 National
educational, civic and religious organizations, from the
Council of Chief State School Officers to The League of Women
Voters and The U.S. Chamber of Commerce cooperate on the
project.
I urge my colleagues to write to their states' school
superintendents and encourage them to involve their students
in this massive effort to pass the torch to a new generation
of voters.
The purpose of the National Student/Parent Mock Election is
to turn the sense of powerlessness that keeps young people,
and their parents too, from going to the polls, into a sense
of the power of participation. It is feelings of
powerlessness, psychologists point out, that are the root
cause of violence. The Center for Action Research found the
National Student/Parent Mock Election REDUCED feelings of
powerlessness. The project uses the motivation of the
elections to teach the rule of law instead of the rule of
gangs. It seeks to help young Americans learn how, in a
government ``of the people, by the people and for the
people,'' they can effect change with votes instead of
violence, ballots instead of bullets. It works to help
today's violence-prone generation discover they do not need a
gun to be heard.
In 1994 the National Student/Parent Mock Election will
initiate a new pilot project to combat violence. ACTIONS
invites the students of America to create their own pilot
project to help combat violence in their community. Students
from elementary school through college level are encouraged
to organize a project, with the assistance of an adult
advisor, designed to help turn around the violence in their
community. The first project to be accepted in each state as
an official National Student/Parent Mock Election ACTIONS
project will receive $150.00 towards expenses. There is no
limit to the number of pilots per state, or the kinds of
projects student might undertake in their community. (Some
possible examples: working to secure street lights for a dark
neighborhood, organizing after school activities for
unsupervised younger children subject to gang inducements,
submitting the student's own ideas for legislation to the
state legislature and working to have their legislation
enacted.)
To become an official ACTIONS pilot, groups must fill out a
brief questionnaire describing their plans, the affiliation
of their adult advisor, the group's chairman or leader, et
cetera. Applications must be signed by the responsible adult.
ACTIONS groups will exchange ideas and experiences with
each other throughout the 1994-1995 school year. At the end
of the school year, the five most successful ACTIONS project
leaders will be awarded a free trip to Washington, D.C. to
meet each other and share experiences in the nation's
capital. The most successful project will receive a first
prize award of two tickets overseas.
Groups interested in participating in ACTIONS should send a
stamped self-addressed envelope labeled Actions to the
National Student/Parent Mock Election, 7925-A North Oracle
Road, P.O. Box 382, Tucson, AZ 85704.
There is no greater legacy any of us can leave then the
legacy of democracy.
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