HISD’s Family and Community Engagement (FACE) Department invited a number of HISD juniors and seniors to the My Ballot My Future Civic Youth Summit at Delmar Fieldhouse on May 14. Students were welcomed by bouncing bass and staff excitedly waving pompoms – not exactly what might be expected from an event focused on “boring” adult concepts like civic responsibility and voting.
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League of Women Voters turn up to register students during first week of school
HISD believes in teaching students the value of their civic duty. Every year, the district makes a concentrated effort to help eligible students register to vote. This year, during the first week of school, volunteers with the Texas League of Women Voters (LWV) visited every HISD high school to support that effort.
Continue readingStudents Get Nearly 200 Commitments from Houston Voters through Phone Banks
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Simultaneous phone banks after school on Monday at Davis, Sharpstown, Chavez, Scarborough and Furr plus one earlier on Friday at the Sam Houston Math, Science & Technology Center (MSTC) resulted in 187 commitments from Houston voters promising to hit the polls on Election Day.
More than 100 students participated in the phone banks in collaboration with Mi Familia Vota, a national nonprofit organization geared to promote civic engagement.
“This was an excellent opportunity for our kids to contribute toward a good cause, one that will benefit everyone,” said Sharpstown High School Principal Rob Gasparello. “It is always good to work with the great folks from Mi Familia Vota. The students really enjoyed volunteering for this event.”
The students volunteered a couple of hours after school to call eligible voters in their communities to encourage them to vote on Tuesday and remind them to finish the ballot.
“We had great results across the board from students, teachers and staff,” said Will Hernandez, deputized volunteer for Mi Familia Vota. “Thank you to HISD for allowing us to collaborate on this project!”
Mi Familia Vota provided the students at each campus headsets and a computer program to help facilitate the phone bank, along with the list of contact numbers for voters in their surrounding areas.
Students from Davis High School previously participated on another phone bank with Mi Familia Vota on October 19 to promote civic engagement and placed over a thousand phone calls.
At Sam Houston MSTC, parents and students made hundreds of phone calls to Houston voters on November 2.
HISD Students to Promote Early Voting With Zombie Walk and “Thriller” Vote Early Flash Mob
HSPVA and Lamar ‘zombies’ walking to early voting site
What: HISD’s own ‘zombies’ from HSPVA and Lamar High School will be encouraging fellow classmates, staff, parents and the community at-large to vote early and to finish the entire ballot by walking from the West Gray/Montrose intersection to the Metropolitan Multi-Services Center (1475 West Gray) where they will culminate their walk with a zombie “Thriller” flash mob at 4:30 p.m.
Who: HSPVA and Lamar High School students
When: Wednesday, October 31, 2012, 4 – 5:00 p.m.
Where: Metropolitan Multi-Services Center, 1475 West Gray