Kids' voting power begins with knowledge

By Catherine E. Toth
Advertiser Staff Writer

Suzanna Stercho may be only 12 years old, but she knows exactly what she wants in Hawai'i's next governor.

Travis Hirayama, 12, a seventh-grader at Mililani Middle School, encourages adults to vote in the elections. Political science teacher Kurumi Kaapana-Aki is leading the school's election project, which focuses on the importance of voting. Eugene Tanner • The Honolulu Advertiser

Along with about 300 students at Mililani Middle School, Stercho has listened to five gubernatorial candidates discuss their platforms and visions for Hawai'i. The hopefuls, in turn, had to answer questions from inquisitive and informed students who aren't old enough to vote.

"These kids don't have the right to vote and they know it," said Kurumi Kaapana-Aki, the political science teacher who spearheaded the school's election project. "But they do know they have the right to influence others. And that's powerful in itself."

Since August, students at Mililani Middle School have followed the gubernatorial race, reading about the candidates, discussing the issues that mean the most to their communities, picking favorites, all as part of a project created by Kaapana-Aki to impress on students the importance of voting. The students were so impressed that five candidates — Linda Lingle, Andy Anderson, John Carroll, George Nitta and

Jason Ganzagan — took the time to talk with them that it sparked their interest in the upcoming primary election on Sept. 21.

Then they asked Kaapana-Aki if they could do more, learn more. She couldn't believe it.

"Once they realized these candidates would come and talk to them, knowing their vote wouldn't count, there was this energy," she said. "They asked me, 'What more can we do?' "

Some students wanted to campaign for their favorite candidates, canvassing the neighborhood with brochures and fliers or waving signs on Meheula Parkway. Others began planning rallies at Mililani Town Center to encourage people to register to vote and make a difference in their community.

On Friday more than 150 students stood along Meheula Parkway, the main road in Mililani Mauka, holding signs they made to get people to the polls. "I'm a Proud Child of a Parent Who Votes," read one. "I should do my homework, you should vote," read another.

Upcoming is a rally after the primary election at the Town Center, complete with entertainment and food. The purpose of the rally is to promote voting awareness in the Mililani community. Five of Kaapana-Aki's former students, now ninth-graders at Mililani High School, have been certified to register voters for the event.

"If you don't vote," said John Orr, with an unusual sense of urgency for a 12-year-old, "you could change the course of history."

These students spend lunch breaks, recesses and after-school time in Kaapana-Aki's classroom, working on campaigns, signs, brochures and posters, with an enthusiasm for spreading the positives of voting.

"You read a lot about voter apathy and how the turnout rate (at the polls) is getting progressively worse," Kaapana-Aki said. "Kids mimic adults, but we don't want that. We want to reverse that trend."

By impressing on students the importance of voting long before they can, maybe they will vote when they are old enough, she said.

"I wish every eighth-grade class, every high school would do something like this," she said. "I believe it could turn the community — no, the world — around."

Her enthusiasm for the project, the first time the school has done something like this, has left an indelible mark on her students, who argue over their favorite candidates and discuss issues in more detail than most adults do.

They don't believe in voting according to party affiliation, or think one vote doesn't count.

"Before, I didn't bother to learn about our politicians," said 13-year-old Kara Godfrey. "I didn't think they made a difference. ... But now I know how important it is to decide who will be governor."

Added Orr: "(Party affiliation) doesn't really matter. What matters is what they believe in."

Kaapana-Aki had a difficult time getting the candidates to speak at the school. When the students found out that one candidate said he didn't have time for kids, they ranted and raved.

"Don't they know what they do in office affects us?" asked 12-year-old Caitlin Kubota.

"We're not going to tell our parents to vote for him," said Stercho. "That's terrible."

This kind of fervor and energy for something they believe in makes Kaapana-Aki smile. That has been the best outcome of the project.

"That fire, when the kids get fired up to want to make a difference," Kaapana-Aki said. "They are being inquisitive. They ask questions. That's what every kid should do."

Reach Catherine E. Toth at 535-8103 or ctoth@honoluluadvertiser.com.