The BILA Wave

by Katelyn Melville

For the last two years at BILA, Mr. Leavitt’s students participated in voting pre-registration for 16-year-old students.

Yet this year’s candidates – along with other factors – are leaving many students hesitant. This presidential election season, the Democratic candidate is Joe Biden and the Republican candidate is Donald Trump. According to The Guardian, 45% of Americans believe the rematch between Biden and Trump will only hurt the country. This election is highly controversial amidst Trump’s criminal trial and Biden’s handling of the Israel-Palestinian conflict.

According to Mr. Leavitt, the turnout this year was much higher than last year, but there was some hesitation among students in both years. With my perspective as both a journalist and a student participating in his class, we had a conversation about where this hesitation stemmed from and how it impacted the results. 

Leavitt: Fewer people wanted to register; I was very deliberate with what I had been teaching when we were going to register to vote because I wanted the students to recognize how important it is that they be able to voice their opinions in this way. I think this year went better. I don’t think that the students necessarily last year didn’t want to do it; I think there’s a little bit of the perception that registering and voting makes you old and boring or something. I don’t know, what do you think?”

Katelyn: I mean, I thought it was so cool; when you brought them out I was like: “Are we seriously doing this?” And I don’t know, I thought a lot of people thought of it as like, “Okay, now I have to vote,” and that’s not what it is. You can vote; you don’t have to. Having it there as a prerequisite can only help you. You can register and not vote ever. If you feel like you really need to vote a certain year, you don’t have, assuming that you didn’t move or something, at least you have that to fall back on. I thought there’s no harm in doing it.

Leavitt: Did you get a sense from your peers that they thought differently from you? Like they thought more like I was worried last year about a lot of the hesitancy?”

Katelyn: Yeah, I saw some. A lot of people saw it as too big of a decision to make right now. I even saw it when we talked about lowering the voting age (referring to an in-class debate we had on whether we should lower the voting age to 16); it seemed as though a lot of us don’t have faith in ourselves. Especially with the party thing (referring to the bottom of a voter registration slip where you can choose which party you’re affiliated with if you would like to vote in the primary election) at the bottom, I think a lot of people didn’t like that, but also, you just don’t have to vote in the primaries if you really don’t want to.

Leavitt: Or you could pick no party,

Katelyn: Exactly, yeah. I think a lot of us lack that faith in ourselves.

Leavitt: Yeah, I agree, and I think that’s part of why doing the class is important; I think normally, assuming everything goes according to plan, this is going to be offered to Seniors instead of Juniors, and I guess there’s a chance that doing it with students that are turning 18 might maybe make them more interested in doing it. I do feel the same way as you, a lot of people either don’t have faith in their own ability to make a good decision, or they don’t feel that at 16 or 17, they’re ready for that responsibility, but I somewhat think that it’s a like self-fulfilling prophecy, that if you don’t feel like you can do it, then you’re not going to be able to do it, but if you believe in yourself where you know that you’re going to have the responsibility, then you’ll start paying more attention to things because you know that it’s about to fall into your lap. Nothing changes when you turn 18, except for a number; it doesn’t change your mind or your brain or how much you’re paying attention to things; it’s a number. 

When asked by students, generally no one wanted to speak about elections, being that the topic, especially during this election cycle, is quite taboo, not only because of the candidates but the influx of changes we’ve seen in the structures of our government. From landmark Supreme Court cases being overturned to international conflicts, anything regarding politics right now is a touchy subject.

 Many students also simply find it pointless to indulge. B9’s Jeremy Ulysse explained that he feels “that such a crucial election is going to be negative no matter the turnout.” This amount of reluctance only reinforces the fact that we need to trust ourselves more. 

Many of BILA’s students believe that it’s important for our voices to be heard. For example, B9’s ​​Adebusola Adebiyi details: “I do think it’s important to use my voice because it’s personal. I’m able to express myself in my own way, which results in my own change.”

Also from B9, Cyril Sheppard details that he “finds it very important for us to be using our own voices to amplify our needs and wants because as the saying goes a closed mouth won’t get fed. Same goes for our current world; many individuals have voiced opinions but not taken matters into their own hands. It’s definitely not easy.”

As students, as young people and generally as humans, we are powerful. These students represent many, showing that we have the ideas, we just need to act. We have the ability to band together to create change, and it all starts with believing in oneself. That is one of the lifetime lessons other students and myself have learned from Mr. Leavitt’s civic engagement class. Everyone’s voice is one-of-a-kind, and each person can do something different to impact society.