Classical Students Get into Politics

Experience of Participating in a Local Campaign

Story by Samantha Sweeney    Photos by Mr. Harutunian

                In the past three weeks, juniors and seniors at Lynn Classical have had the experience of working with different candidates who were running for public office in Lynn.  With this project, we have been given a totally new perspective and understanding of how city government works as well as the amount of work and effort that is necessary in order to win the election. Each candidate put a considerable amount of time and effort into this campaign. The candidates were running for councilor at large, school committee, or ward councilor. At the beginning, we were told that we would get very attached to campaigning. At first we didn’t believe it. However by the end it turns out we were wrong.

A distribution of each of the candidate’s name, home address, telephone number, position, and party, was given to all those participating in the campaign. Students individually chose our candidates after doing some research on them and finding out more about each one. After we chose who we wanted to work for, we called our candidate and asked if they needed any help with the campaign. They were all very excited to have Classical students work on their campaign.

 The work they gave us was standard for every election procedure. They assigned us to sign holding, telephone calling, going door to door, and placing signs on people’s front lawns. Sign holding was the simplest. They assigned us a time and place and we would show up there, we held signs and waved at people as they either walked by or drove by. A lot of the time the people driving would honk in approval. When making phone calls the candidate or their supervisor gave us a list of people to call and what ward they were in. We called them and asked general questions, trying to tell them about our candidate. Going door to door was also very common way to campaign. We were given a stack of door hangers walked through various neighborhoods talking about the candidate we were campaign for. Placing signs on people’s lawns was an interesting experience.

The final day of the campaigning project was on Election Day itself. Most students stood holding signs and waved as people drove by to vote or talked to people about their candidate. There were three main places that we worked: Breed Middle School, Shoemaker School, and Briarcliff Lodge. Often the opposing candidates offered us refreshments. They were extremely kind and expressed a great amount of respect for us as we set aside a few hours to help others. Others just told people to hold signs at their leisure. Some students worked at the polls directing voters in and out the building and some checked off who voted.

Regardless of whether their candidates won or lost each person felt as if they were vital in the campaigning process. Each candidate had an after party that the students attended as a thank you for all their help and time put into the campaign. A few people couldn’t believe that we would take time to help the candidates and a couple actually said that they would vote for our candidate because we were working so hard. The candidates said they couldn’t have gotten as far as they did without the help of Classical students. When we went to the homes of some voters we had a good conversation about our candidate as well as our high school. People responded that it was wonderful it is to see young people getting involved in politics and thanked us for our work. In conclusion throughout the three weeks of campaigning we saw a different side of Lynn that’s not really commonly noticed which people go out of their way to help others and coming together in a friendly duel. The willingness of all to help each other out in a friendly manner is what we now see as what Lynn is all about.