Seeking political voice for the young

Philadelphia Inquirer (PA)
Copyright 2007 Philadelphia Daily News
March 3, 2007

Seeking political voice for the young

By Julie Stoiber, Inquirer Staff Writer

Quite by accident, Matthew Zaccagni, 18, went to school yesterday wearing a red-and-white striped shirt with a blue eagle on the pocket.

It was the perfect choice for a day when Zaccagni took on the role of civic leader, imploring seniors at his high school to register to vote as part of a citywide, student-led political awareness campaign leading up to Philadelphia's May 15 primary.

"By registering to vote, you are taking control over your life," Zaccagni told about 100 classmates at the High School for Creative and Performing Arts (CAPA) on South Broad Street, in an auditorium just off the soaring Grand Hall, a place alive with student artwork and music.

Not everyone bought the message.

Rebecca Cohen, a 17-year-old in an MTV T-shirt, said she was not sure she would register, though she will be old enough to vote in the Nov. 6 general election.

"I'm completely and utterly confused by what everyone tells me," she said. "I can't trust anyone."

And would her one vote really change things? She wasn't sure.

Henry Watkins, 17, was.

"There's no reason a person in the United States of America shouldn't vote," he said. "It gives me pride in America and, most important, it gives me power."

Zaccagni paced the stage, encouraging banter. "Why is it important to vote?" he asked.

A girl in the back called out, "If you don't want another president like George Bush!"

Rachel Milligan, 17, will not be eligible to vote in the primary, but when she does vote, she's likely to be discerning. She challenged the vagueness of a ballot issue that will ask voters to decide whether the city should form a Youth Commission, young people who would work with the mayor and City Council.

"How will these people be appointed? What are the standards?" she asked. "A really vague thing like this can be manipulated."

Bill Madeira, an event sponsor from Philadelphia Citizens for Children and Youth, encouraged Milligan to get involved with fine-tuning the commission if it is approved.

What seemed to grab students was a line delivered by Edgar Howard, a Democratic city commissioner whose office oversees elections. "From the womb to the tomb," he told them, "your life is controlled by politics."

Birth certificates, death certificates and everything in between has a link to government, said Howard, who is up for re-election.

"You get up in the morning and flush the toilet, some bureaucrat has decided how much water should be in that tank," he said.

Yesterday's assembly, which included a voting-rights trivia contest with Student Voices T-shirts as prizes, was the 22d of 28 scheduled registration events at city high schools this election season, said Donna Frisby-Greenwood, director of the school district's Office of College and Career Awareness.

The campaign, a project of the Citywide Student Government Association, had registered 200 students by the time of the CAPA event.

"The students here asked some very important questions," said Frisby-Greenwood. "The young woman who said, 'I'm confused,' well, that's an important thing to be able to say."

This is the second year for the voter drive, but there is a difference this time, said Fatima James of the Committee of Seventy, another co-sponsor.

"Last year, we did the assemblies," she said. "This year, you've got civic-minded, inspirational student leaders, and it's so much better."

"When students hear a message from their peers, they're more inclined to listen," added Kira Shepherd from the Student Voices project of the Annenberg Public Policy Center, another partner.

Sponsors sent lots of adult support for Zaccagni and fellow student organizers Meaghan Kriss, 18, and Jacqui Gdowik, 17.

By assembly's end, 47 students had been persuaded to register, and others said they would turn in their forms next week, as they hurried out the door to a music rehearsal.

Kriss said she was getting ready for the primary by "actually starting to listen in civics class."

"We are seniors and we are going out into the world," she said. "We're starting to realize it's not just fun and games anymore."

Zaccagni, who led yesterday's assembly, got interested in government four years ago when he left private school - where he said students had things handed to them by well-to-do parents - and entered CAPA, a public school.

"When I came here, I saw there was inequality," he said. "There are students here who are working to support their parents. I need to do something to effect a change, to give everybody a chance."

At the assemblies, students can walk into a voting booth and get comfortable with the mechanics of the process.

But even with information and enthusiasm in abundance, not everyone is moved to register. Some students say they don't care, while others have told organizers they are too bogged down with college forms and senior projects.

Still others have admitted that their hesitation has nothing to do with an aversion to the political process.

They just don't want to be picked for jury duty