With the opportunity for pre-registration in elections by the age of 16, many high school students in California are taking advantage of this chance. As young U.S. citizens, students are eager to take this leap forward and be the change they want to see. More teens are looking to get involved and educated when it comes to political change and engagement.  Their goals are to carry an impact forward, hopefully inspiring the next generation to take action as well. 

     Here at Monte Vista, student-led clubs are making their voices heard on campus. Their hopes are to emphasize critical nationwide topics and the importance of voting in upcoming elections. By attracting more student involvement and working with other clubs to promote change they strive to build a more knowledgeable community. Monte Vista senior and President of The Young Democrats Club, Daniel Gross emphasized how his club is dedicated towards expanding students understanding of democracy and the function of government. Additionally, as many students will be able to vote, Gross wants them to be aware of their power and the impact they can make by using it. 

     “[Last] year, we wrote letters during the midterm elections to people in Georgia reminding them to vote,” Gross said.

     During meetings, the club is focused on talking about the both local topics concerning the San Ramon Valley and national topics as well. A lot of different issues such as abortion, school safety, local politics, etc. are brought to life so that student leaders can devise a plan of action and take their next step forward from there. 

     “On a more local level, several student issues [regarding] school lunches is something we can advocate for more improvement on,” Gross said.

     In terms of involvement with a club such as The Young Democrats, several people immediately believe that their actions are non inclusive or left leaning. However, this club continuously reinforces the idea that they are solely focused on student involvement rather than a certain political ideology. With the influence of social media and Gen Z expressing their statements on current events, the growth of young voters and activism can continue to expand from here. Young people need to stand for their beliefs and understand that their impact and activism can change polices and reflect what is most important to individuals and this generation as a whole.

     In recent months, the Voting Registration club advised by Monte Vista government teacher Ms. Hartig has garnered lots of appeal to students around campus. By setting up voter registration drives for the past three years, new changes have allowed students to advocate for more student political engagement. This years drive, for instance, has seen its largest turnout in comparison to any other year it has been held. As of right now, the goals of this club is to advocate for students to have access to more resources of information when it comes to understanding current political candidates, the importance of civic engagement, and understanding of the political process overall. Keeping information for students valuable yet intriguing is key to getting more teens involved an eager to see change even at the local community level. 

     “ Students [should be] able to see that [they] can actually vote somebody in locally [and] have a big change in our school board,” Ms. Hartig said.

     Overall, students want to see themselves a part of worldwide discussions and not just disregarded based off their age or credibility of information. However, this poses an issue with the rise of social media. 

     “I think that technology is good but you need to have those role models to help you sift through information only speaking to the emotional vs. the true objective point of view,” Ms. Hartig said. 

    Although what we view online can provide students with access to certain information, not everything is trustworthy. Often times we scroll and forget to fact check our instagram or tik tok feed that provides us with lots of truths and lies at the same time. But that is why political clubs are so crucial. They guide our youth in the right direction by relying on fact based sources and evidence to spark our creativity for the changes we want to see. Whether these are looking at short term or long term goals, students can effectively use their platforms to alert others of what they find important. It is true that even small contributions make a difference within communities.