Middle schoolers get political

Twelve-year-olds aren't allowed to vote legally, but with the help of a new program, students in two seventh-grade classes at A.L. Stanback Middle School will be able to participate in the election process.

The students are taking part in a mock election developed by students in the International Baccalaureate program at Cedar Ridge High School.

The IB students will be making presentations at Orange County schools to inform students about political parties, candidates and the electoral process before Tuesday.

Students from Stanback and 11 other county schools will then have the chance to cast a vote online in a mock election.

"We just want to educate them and get them involved in the election process early," said Heather Mandelkehr, a junior IB student at Cedar Ridge.

Mandelkehr headed a group of four students that went to Stanback to address two of Julie Whitling's seventh-grade English classes Tuesday.

Accompanying her were juniors Abbi Whitling, Ashley Summers and Rachael Benedict.

The four students gave a 45-minute presentation to each class.

Most of the middle school students knew something about the presidential race but had not been well-informed about other races that will be decided by Tuesday's election.

"We wanted to include facts about the state elections that are closer to them," Mandelkehr said.

The IB students presented information about the Republican, Democratic and third-party candidates for governor, lieutenant governor, U.S. senator, U.S. representative and U.S. president.

The IB students also presented information about the basic ideological differences between the Democratic and Republican parties.

The seventh-graders also learned about how the parties nominate candidates for president and how to register to vote when they become eligible.

"I think the kids need to know that they have a voice. The earlier they know, the better off they'll be," Julie Whitling said.

To present the information in a manner accessible to seventh-graders, Abbi Whitling and Benedict said, the IB students used lots of pictures and tried to keep concepts simple.

Summers said one of the program's goals was to be nonpartisan so no one's political views would be influenced by the presentation.

At the end of each presentation, Julie Whitling asked her students whether they could tell who the IB students were going to vote for. In both classes, the majority said they were unable to tell.

"They did it equally. You couldn't tell," said D.J. Roberts, one of Whitling's students who participated in the second presentation.

Clark Norman, a seventh-grade social studies teacher at Stanback, said he liked the fact that a high school program was reaching out to educate younger students.

"It shows the younger kids what they have to look forward to, and that there is an active role that they can pursue as they get older," Norman said.

On Thursday, the students at Stanback will participate in a separate nationwide mock election for middle school students.

"I don't care who they vote for," Norman said. "But I do care that they vote."

Contact the City Editor at citydesk@unc.edu.