Recently, I sat down with Abby Everett, a fellow high school student at Greens Farms Academy. Everett is one of the many politically active members of our school community.
Abby is in her third year at GFA. She is a member of Model United Nations and of GFA’s News-Decoder branch, and is a chair of the Prison Education Club. Last summer she participated in a program in London with the School of Ethics and Global Leadership.
Last autumn, as the 2018 U.S. midterm elections were approaching, Abby and fellow classmate Charlotte Cohen decided to run a voting registration booth so students who were at least 18 years old could register and take part in the election.
Both Abby and Charlotte are passionate about politics and have been very politically active despite being too young to vote themselves.
I decided to sit down with Abby because she is someone who is very involved and passionate about many issues and increased our community’s awareness of issues such as criminal justice reform. She is passionate about getting people involved politically and making change.
During our chat, we discussed the importance of voting as well as how youth can impact future elections.
Since Donald Trump was elected U.S. president in 2016, there has been more student activism with respect to school shootings and climate change. And as high school students reach voting age, they can have a major impact on the result of the 2020 presidential election.
In the podcast, Abby talks about how the next generation of voters can affect future election outcomes due to Gen Z’s diversity. In our chat, we focus on both very politically involved kids, as well as kids who prefer to be on the sidelines.
Abby discusses the privilege of being allowed to vote and how young people can have a dramatic influence on the future of democracy and the world.
(The photo that appears in connection with this article on News-Decoder’s home page was taken by Charlotte Cohen of Greens Farms Academy. You can view her entire photo report on our “Future of Democracy” page.)
Giavanna Bravo is in her second year of high school at Greens Farms Academy. She chairs two clubs — Preemptive Love and Cuatro Por Venezuela — as well as the school’s Model United Nations section. She works on the school newspaper. She enjoys learning languages and is currently studying French, Spanish and Arabic. Giavanna is interested in global affairs, political science, different cultures, acting, international law, traveling and writing.