Manual’s Young Democrats club volunteers for Andy Beshear
Members of the Young Democrats club stand with Gill Holland after volunteering with Adam Edelen’s gubernatorial campaign earlier this year. The club members spend their meetings volunteering, discussing politics, and looking for ways to improve their community. Photo by Serena Hirn.
September 19, 2019
This piece was submitted by Lilly Wobbe (10, J&C)
Manual‘s Young Democrats club held a phone banking session to campaign for gubernatorial candidate, Andy Beshear, after school on Tuesday in Mr. Curtis’ room.
Each pair of students registered to volunteer for the campaign and received several phone numbers to call. During the call, the students introduced themselves to the person they were calling, then asked a series of questions to indicate how sure the person was that they’d vote for Beshear in the November election for governor.
Although calling people put the students under pressure, and they felt uncomfortable in the beginning, they had fun working with their friends and supporting a cause they believed in.
Emma Wilkie (12, VA) explained the benefits of volunteering by phone banking.
“We’re trying to volunteer without having to get everybody in a car and waste time that way. Phone banking is the most convenient way to make a difference,” Wilkie said.
During a debrief session after phone banking, Young Democrats members also spoke about what brought them to the club and why they keep coming back.
Laine Hirn (12, HSU), the president of the club, spoke about how the 2016 presidential election impacted her decision to join the club. “Our freshman year was the 2016 elections. It was a great time to get involved, so I volunteered with Hillary Clinton through Young Democrats,” Hirn said.
Elise Williamson (12, YPAS) was motivated to join the club after witnessing her classmates’ apathy toward politics.
“I got really tired of high schoolers complaining about everything that’s going on, but not putting that to anything,” Williamson said. “That just adds to the problem, when you’re posing all the problems that are going on but not posing solutions to those problems.”
Anna Mowery (12, HSU) enjoys the debate aspect of the club.
“Even though we’re all Democrats, we all have little differences in opinions on certain issues,” Mowery said.
“It’s nice to go to a place where the people are passionate about the same stuff you are,” Carolyn Seigenthaler (12, VA) said.
Young Democrats club meets every Tuesday from 2:30 to 3:30 in Mr. Curtis’ room (253).
