A year ago on March 23rd, Rock the Vote announced its first-ever Democracy Day, a national effort to promote civic education in high schools and celebrate young people winning the right to vote through the passage of the 26th Amendment. Today, over two thousand schools – in all 50 states – have taught Democracy Class and leaders across the country have committed to improving civic engagement in our nation’s high schools.
This year, Rock the Vote kicked off the 2nd Annual Democracy Day at the National Constitution Center (NCC) where we hosted a Democracy Class lesson for students of Constitution High School followed by short program launching 100 Days of Learning throughout the end of the school year.
More than 200 students from Philadelphia high schools participated in the Rock the Vote pep rally led by Power 99 FM’s Dr. O, Rock the Vote President Heather Smith, National Constitution Center President and CEO David Eisner and recording artist and Philadelphia native, Nikki Jean. Followed by an impressive slew of speeches from Pennsylvania elected officials, including Secretary of State Carol Aichele, former Governor Ed Rendell, and Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter who spoke to the students via a video message.
3,000 miles away, Rock the Vote teamed up with Youth Policy Institute (YPI) to celebrate Democracy Day with 300 students at Los Angeles’ Edward Roybal High School. At Roybal, the students participated in Democracy Classes during the day, and then came together for a special Democracy Day “political fair,” circulating through various booths for voter registration, pledge to vote, specific issue conversations, citizenship rights, and local voting laws, as Celebrity High DJ James Andre Jefferson Jr. played their favorite songs. Students then heard from a number of impressive speakers, including Secretary of State Debra Bowen, Los Angeles Unified School District Board’s President Monica Garcia, LA County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk Dean Logan, YPI President Dixon Slingerland and Rock the Vote’s Amanda Brown.
Check out photos from Democracy Day 2012. Coverage of launch included CBS Philly, The New York Times and Nation just to name a few.
As part of the celebration this year, an impressive bipartisan group of Mayors and Secretaries of States have pledged to integrate civic education into their state’s school systems with programs like Democracy Class (see the full list of supporters here). South Dakota Secretary of State Jason Gant took the pledge a step further by visiting two schools to talk to students about the importance of civic participation. He also worked with Governor Dennis Daugaard to get an Executive Proclamation issued, proclaiming March 23rd as Democracy Day in South Dakota.
Since its inception, numerous elected officials, partner organizations, volunteers and celebrities have joined Rock the Vote to celebrate Democracy Class with students and educators. Those include: Representative Jay Inslee, Secretary of State Jon Husted, Senator Jason Carter, Youth Policy Institute, National Education Association, American Federation of Teachers, National Council of Social Studies, YouthBuild, The School District of Philadelphia, Glee’s Darren Criss, Hip-hop duo the New Boyz, recording artist Jermaine Dupri, rappers David Banner and Asher Roth, platinum-selling artist Jason Derulo, Vampire Diaries star and singer Kat Graham, NFL players Shawne Merriman and Bernard Berrian, and Major League Soccer pro Jimmy Conrad.
About Democracy Class
Rock the Vote's Democracy Class program is designed to educate and excite high school students about voting and elections. This nonpartisan lesson plan uses music, pop culture, video, classroom discussion and a mock election to teach young people the skills to navigate the elections process and engage as active citizens. On March 23, 2012, we celebrated our seccond annual Democracy Day, asking educators and organizations to bring Democracy Class to their students. For more information visit democracyclass.com.
About Rock the Vote
Rock the Vote engages young people in our democracy and builds their political power by registering, educating and turning them out to vote, by forcing the candidates to campaign to them, and by making politicians pay attention to youth and the issues they care about once in office. For more than 20 years, we have used music, popular culture, new technologies and old-fashioned grassroots organizing to engage and mobilize young people to participate in every election. By providing them with the information and tools they need since 1990, Rock the Vote has registered more than 5 million young people, including more than 2.25 million in the historic 2008 election and 300,000 in 2010’s midterm elections. In 2012 and beyond, Rock the Vote will be at the forefront of reinvigorating democracy and redefining citizenship for a generation, building relationships and activating a growing, diverse base of young Americans. |
