Northwood School is taking a refreshingly different approach in a world where political campaigns are often dominated by personality. At Northwood, a mock election is underway. It is not focused on the high-profile presidential race but rather on the issues that matter most to their community.
Teacher and coach Mr. Simon Shergold started this project. As a high school teacher, Mr. Shergold must teach civics to his students, and what better way to do so than by using modern elections as teaching tools? Mr. Shergold says, “I think that presidential elections or election cycles are always good teaching moments. We can actually look at the theory. We can look at what’s supposed to happen, how it was designed 250 years ago, and see if that is what’s happening today or if the whole thing has changed dramatically. Then, we let kids make their own decisions.”
Mr. Simon Shergold. Photo by Mr. Michael Aldridge.
The first steps taken to make this happen were through the weekly school meeting last Tuesday. Rarely is everyone in the same place at once, and Mr. Shergold wanted to take advantage of this. He designed a form “to get an idea of what the students at Northwood thought were priorities for them if they were voting in this election,” says Mr. Shergold. He continued. “I picked eight or nine—what you might call flagship things, things like the economy and foreign policy. These are big issues that are always a part of every election. I also gave some options where people put their own personal ideas.” Mr. Shergold will then take his 200+ responses and compile them based on what students care about most. He will send this information to two district candidates and emphasize that Northwood is focusing on an issue-based election—not on pointing fingers. Hopefully, this will push students to look beyond personality-driven politics and encourage students to research candidates. When either candidate returns their response, students will be able to “study up” on each candidate before voting. Doing so will shed light on the importance of local elections for Northwood students.
Northwood will then hold its election to see what the community votes for based on the information given about each candidate. Voting booths will be set up in the cafeteria on November 5th for students to vote. Votes will then be counted by a committee, which will be overseen by another group of Northwood students. Faculty and students are excited to see how the process will unfold and, most importantly, how it will foster a sense of civic duty in our community.
