DENVER — This election season has inspired a lot of people to get active. Even the ones who can’t vote yet.
Take 8th grade friends, Elise and Avery, for example. At the moment, school for Elise and Avery is still a computer on the patio table in the backyard.
“I can’t imagine this being their middle school experience,” said Drew Garland, their electives teacher at Merrill Middle School in Denver.
And yet, if you ask these kids, where class is happening doesn’t seem to dissuade their involvement.
“My favorite (assignment) so far has been running mock political campaigns,” Elise said.
“And in that class, we learn a little bit more about the government,” Avery said.
In fact, these Merrill students and others are becoming so involved this election season, they were even tapped by the organizers of Denver Decides to submit debate questions about issues important to them.
“I chose the abortion proposition because I thought it was most interesting,” Avery said.
Avery’s question was selected out of all the students.
“I came up with several, but my main one was: Is it fair for you to decide someone else’s ability for when they have an abortion if it’s not your situation or your body?” she said.
That question and others were then asked during the statewide ballot initiative debates airing all this week on Denver 8 TV.
Garland says he’s proud of the students.
“What my students can really get out of this is that the people who make decisions are people,” Garland said. “People like me, people like you, and I want them to understand how they can be involved, too.”
The debates, which include ballot issues and propositions and statewide races, are moderated by Denver7’s Russell Haythorn and Micah Smith and air all this week on Denver 8 TV.