Upper School Students & Faculty Exercise their Right to Vote

On October 29, five Hutchison seniors and two upper school teachers left school to go exercise their rights as citizens and vote in the upcoming midterm elections.
Whitney Jordan ’19 had the idea to get the word out about voting, and after talking to Dr. Gilmore, upper school head, she organized a field trip to take seniors to go vote during school.

Jordan's inspiration to encourage others to vote came after attending a summer program at St. Albans School of Public Service in Washington, D.C., and interning with Shelby County mayoral candidate David Lenore. “At St. Albans, we learned about public service on a national level, and I wanted to bring that back here to see it on a local level,” Jordan said. During her internship, she analyzed results on election night, which she said startled her due to the low voter turnout. This led to her idea of early voting with her classmates.

“I saw something that said ‘if you don’t cast a vote, you can’t complain about the results,’” Jordan said. “It’s really important that we vote so the elected officials are an accurate representation of what the community wants.”

She appreciated the support from her teachers, who chaperoned the trip and helped seniors register to vote. “We were stressed on the way to vote, and we were asking our teachers what to do, but they said it was up to us,” Jordan said. “I think it’s special that they allow us to form our own opinions.
 
“A lot of people think their voices don't matter, but they really do,” Jordan said.
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