The Young Progressives Club is raising political awareness among the student body by registering AGHS students to vote in the upcoming election. These voter drives have been a regular occurrence for the past 17 years at AGHS and have consistently led to hundreds of students becoming registered or pre-registered to vote.
This year alone, 91 students were registered to vote in the registration drive on October 19th and 20th, which bodes extremely well for the political awareness of the youth of AG. With so many young residents of Arroyo Grande becoming registered to vote, the political participation in town is steadily rising.
In addition to AG becoming more politically aware, the trend is spreading to nearby cities. The Young Progressives Club at AGHS attempted to collaborate with other high schools in the five cities to set up other voter registration drives.
“We’re also trying to reach out to other schools about potential stuff there because there is a presidential election upcoming,” Ethan Barnes (’24) said.
While unsuccessful, any awareness brought from these attempts benefits the civic consciousness of the five cities.
New Tech High School plans to conduct a registration drive after being prompted by Barnes. While Barnes hoped to aid in their registration drive, any drive is better than none.
The voter drive was not as successful as was hoped, with the desired outcome being over 200 people registered this year. Due to this, the Young Progressives Club intends to hold another voter registration drive later in the year for seniors who want to register but can’t participate in the initial drive.
“[We’re thinking] of doing something in the spring once more seniors have turned 18,” said Barnes
This voter registration drive has been a trend for many years, but recently, the format changed.
“They used to have the League of Women Voters run it, and they would help, as kind of a support, however, we’re running it with the League of Women Voters being the support,” Barnes said.
Overall, the philosophy of the club’s leaders is one of general hope and positivity for the future. The Young Progressives Club also partakes in many other instances of political activism, including guest speakers from political organizations and various awareness campaigns. Any student who wishes to join their ranks can attend their club meetings on Tuesdays at lunch in room 409.
