High School Students Get Lesson In NH Politics

By Amy Quinton on Thursday, July 21, 2005.

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It's often said that young people don't care about politics.

One need only consider the low voter turnout among the nation's youth over the past several decades.

But a group of high school students in New Hampshire share a different view.

As New Hampshire Public Radio's Amy Quinton reports, their summer camp is all about politics.

On a 90-degree sunny summer day, 23 New Hampshire high school students are spending time indoors - in a dimly lit well air-conditioned auditorium on the St. Anselm College Campus.
The only heat here is coming from a political debate about immigration in New Hampshire.
It started with Hopkinton High School Student Seth Gilroy suggesting that immigration be restricted.
"The fact is if somebody just kind of jumps into a country that has so much heritage and suddenly - I guess everybody hates me - and takes away from that yankee spirit or whatever it feels like I'm losing part of what we've done.

That comment caused some concern from student Kate Casey from Bishop Brady High School in Concord.

"I think its weird that weâ€™re so focused on keeping immigrants who could be like dangerous or weird or different out of our country when we have so many naturally born weird people...."

Immigration has been a contentious issue in New Hampshire lately, ever since a New Ipswich Police Chief charged illegal immigrants with trespassing.
The discussion was part of the first Civic Leadership Academy at the New Hampshire Institute of Politics.
Managing Director Mica Stark says the idea behind the two week political boot camp is to give budding leaders a chance to learn about New Hampshire policy and politics.

"What weâ€™re trying to do is to focus the attention on state and local issues, these students are politically astute for their age, but they tend to know more about national politics and weâ€™re trying to turn the attention onto state and local politics."

All politics is local, so argued former U-S House Speaker Tip O'Neill.
And Ann Botteri, Executive Director of the Institute, says if these high school students truly want to become leaders, they need a training ground at the local level.

"While there's an awful lot of programs for high schoolers and college students where you can go to Washington and get an in depth look at Capital Hill, there's very little that exists in state governments. And the reality is that people who wind up running for political office almost always start at the local level."

So for the past two weeks, students have heard from key players in state and local politics.
They've studied the structure of state government, the budget, education funding, and even lobbying.
They've not only learned about the different issues and their moral dimensions, but just as important, they've learned about the political process, and how personalities play a role.
16-year-old Nico Jaras Watts attends Oyster River High School in Durham.

"Something that this group keeps reminding me is that there's all kinds of opinions, and for example, one of the kids in the group, Seth, has different opinions from other people and I like the fact that people are willing to stand up and help him out when a lot of people didn't agree with him. So you know I'm not learning as much about the subjects as much as human relations and how people work together in a group.

The students were chosen for the Civic Leadership Academy out of 200 nominees.
Andrea Flores, a 17 year old from Central High School in Manchester says she's been interested in politics since the sixth grade when she was involved with the Kids Voting program.
But says she wishes she were not in the minority among her peers.

"I am so driven by politics and so passionate about it, where I see some of my friends and other teenagers are just like, well, why should I bother, Iâ€™m not able to vote yet, itâ€™s not going to affect me, well, yes it is."

Other students are frustrated with the lack of civic education.
They say students aren't taught the importance of local government in school.
But Nico Jaras Watts says he's made the connection.

"Itâ€™s a really high rate of almost ignorance among high school students so when they get out theyâ€™re not really that in tune to what's going on on a local level, which is directly affecting them, so they're not going out to vote for town councilor, they're not getting their needs met.

Students at the Civic Leadership Academy are hoping that will change, and that they will serve some small part in getting their peers more involved.
Organizers hope the students will stay in touch with each other and create a network of young leaders so they can accomplish their political goals in the future.
For NHPR news, I'm Amy Quinton.