On Monday, October 17th, Ridgefield High School seniors welcomed several candidates running for public office to their annual Candidates Assembly.
Accepting the invitation to attend were incumbent Congressman Jim Himes (D) and challenger Jayme Stevenson (R) running for the 4th Congressional District; Toni Boucher (R) and Ceci Maher (D) running for the open 26th CT State Senate District, and incumbent Julie Kushner (D) and challenger Michelle Coelho, (R) running for the 24th State Senate District. Due to unforeseen circumstances, Michelle Coelho was unable to attend.
In advance of the assembly, senior students in their Government and Politics classes researched the candidates and prioritized questions on a variety of topics. Candidates running for State Senate seats were asked questions about public education, the economy, housing, climate change, taxes, healthcare, infrastructure, and gun laws. Candidates running for the 4th US Congressional district took questions on the topics of women’s reproductive rights, inflation, gun control versus gun rights, immigration, climate change, healthcare, and cost of college.
After listening to the rules for the assembly, the students heard each candidate share their ideas on how to best represent their constituents’ interests in either Hartford or Washington DC through opening and closing remarks as well as by answering the prepared questions. Students Jared Brown, Tessa Carlucci, Peter Genova, and Charlotte Norcross posed the questions on behalf of their classmates for the State Senate candidates; and Kayla Dewing, Jake Lichten, TJ Petersen and Vavi Rodgers asked the questions for the 4th Congressional District candidates. The assembly was moderated by Liam Delaney and Alejandro Haerter. Fellow classmates Gretchen Baudendistel, Leila DeVoe, Charlotte Mayson, Regan McGrath and Heather Wallace were the assembly timekeepers.
“The senior class seemed to gain a lot from the civility they saw on the stage and could be heard talking about their impressions long after the assembly ended,” observed Social Studies Department Chair, Danny Martins. “It felt wonderful to see these several, important and busy candidates take the time to come to our assembly. Their actions demonstrated such a shared commitment to the priority of nurturing engaged and informed voters for the functioning of our American democracy,” commented assembly organizer Carla Kahlbaugh.
Encouraging citizenship is a critical component of the Ridgefield High School mission statement. Providing the students with the opportunity to see and hear for themselves each of the candidates is one way the high school teaches students how to make knowledgeable, reasoned decisions that impact society in a positive way - a key goal of the Social Studies Department. Another way is by helping all students learn how to register to vote. In the days prior to the assembly, Town Voter Registrars Cindy Bruno and Wayne Floegel came to the high school as part of their annual outreach to inform students about the importance of voting.
The culminating activity was a Mock Election held on October 21st when the senior class cast their votes using Town voting machine tabulators on ballots made up especially for the high school for the three races for United States House of Representatives 4th District and the 24th and 26th CT State Senate Districts.
The expense involved in printing the ballots was covered by generous grants from the PTSA and the League of Women Voters of Ridgefield, who also volunteered during the Mock Election to assist students with the mechanics of the voting process, as they have been doing for over 60 years. “The partnership between all those that contribute to this authentic educational opportunity cultivates active civic engagement,” observed RPS Humanities Supervisor Annie Tucci, “As a community, we share pride in being awarded the recognition from the CT Secretary of State’s office designating Ridgefield High School as a Red, White and Blue School.”