They wanted to get involved. They had the desire to collect the necessary information to form an opinion. So, the students at Sen Pok Chin school in Oliver did their homework, and cast a vote in the recent BC election.
“It feels great!”
One by one, the students in teacher Lisa Caruso’s Grade 4/5 class, and Kim Moffat’s Grade 6/7 class at Sen Pok Chin school in Oliver were called to the front.
They were handed a ballot, and were invited to take a seat behind the big white Elections BC cardboard partition.
This was the real deal.
Students at Sen Pok Chin School were about to cast their ballot to select which Town of Oliver council candidates would help govern this community during the next four years.
It’s a situation no one in Grade 4 or 5 expects to be in, especially considering the voting age is 18 years.
Young Brandon Paetkau, who provided the comment at the beginning of this story, was asked why it was important for students still in elementary school to have a say in Oliver’s political future.
“So we could get involved with town politics,” responded Paetkau, who seemed politically astute despite his tender age of 9 years. “Because we need the chance to vote.”
Caruso felt it was important to get her class involved in the election process. So, in the weeks leading up to the November 15 election, Caruso had some of Oliver’s council candidates attend classes to provide insight into their initiatives and election platforms.
“The Student Vote program got a hold of us, so we went online and registered,” explained Caruso, whose pride in her students’ initiative was quite obvious. “It’s a fantastic program. They sent us the ballot boxes and all the ballot forms. It’s really important for the kids to know they have a voice, and they can make a difference. Some of the candidates even said they would be interested in hearing our ideas of what we would like to see in Oliver. They asked the candidates some really great questions and put them in the hot seat a little bit. This gets kids more involved in politics.”
And these kids are involved. Young Brandon was listening in class, he did his homework, and was able to form an opinion, and vote for the candidates he believes are worthy of getting elected.
“I hear things about national parks. I hear things about needing more jobs, about spending locally, and fixing up the main street so elders can access more stores more easily,” responded the Grade 4 student, who was asked why it was important to get involved?
“Cause more things will happen in Oliver.”
The result was very apparent to Caruso.
“They are all making opinions, which is great. We work on that throughout our school year. This is just emphasizing that this much more. They all have some pretty strong opinions on the national park and being able to hunt and that kind of thing. It’s really cool to see them caring about having their own voice.”
The election results from Sen Pok Chin school in Oliver are in, and, interestingly, none of the top three vote getters were elected to office:
– Lilly Zekanovic – 21
– David Mattes – 19
– Jeff Ashe – 16
– Maureen Doerr – 14
– Larry Schwartzenberger – 12
– Petra Veintimilla – 11
– Jack Bennest – 6
Dale Cory
Oliver Chronicle
