Civic Pride and Responsibility

At Gann, the theme for the year is Civic Pride and Responsibility, which goes nicely with the fact that it is an election year.

Last Thursday, I was lucky enough to join the 11th grade on a trip up to New Hampshire to visit the two candidates' campaign sites.

The two sites were drastically different, and I wonder if connections could be made between how the campaigns are run (and what the offices look like) and the candidates themselves.

[For full disclosure, this was a group of kids who are mostly democratic, although certainly not all. They have been broken up into different groups for the mock election that the school will be having - so we traveled with a few Nader and Bard "supporters" as well!]

We went to McCain's headquarters first. And it truly was the headquarters for all of New Hampshire, if not also all of New England (I don't really remember). It was in a converted old factory building - really quite beautiful. The entrance to the offices had flags and signs, and looked very presidential. They also had plenty of gigantic signs to give out, and upon promising to display it at school, the students got to take one home.  Below they are posing with the sign and with our tour guide (second from the left).

Excited as they were for the free campaign signs, no one raised their hands when Megan, our tour guide, asked if anyone was interested in volunteering for the campaign.

Obama's site looked much different. It was far less polished, and all the signs were hand-painted. That said, it was only one of many campaign sites in New Hampshire (let alone the rest of New England). I do believe that it was the head quarters of the Obama campaign in New Hampshire, but it certainly was not serving the entire state on its own.

Rather than being talked to outside in the parking lot (which actually had been quite an interesting and enlightening experience, so I'm not complaining), we went into an unfinished room upstairs in the Obama campaign. We got to see a few role plays (and even do one of our own) for the phone calls that the campaign makes. We got to learn what a campaign managers does day-in-and-day-out. And ultimately, we were given the opportunity to do our own volunteering.

Not every student chose to volunteer, but most did. Some made phone calls, some stuffed packets, and some wrote postcards. I joined the post card group and wrote to about 15 Manchester families - as well as one Merrimack family (my aunt and uncle) and one Easton, MA family (my parents).

I think a fun time was had by all - but at the same time, it was an educational experience where we all learned something. Many thanks to both campaigns for sharing their time with us, and showing us what it takes to get a president elected.