Doing Democracy Day, an event for eleventh-grade government students, will return this year at the Longmont Museum on March 6. Students from across the St. Vrain Valley School District will come together to analyze and propose solutions to local issues like cell phone bans, affordable housing and homelessness, social media and mental health, red light cameras, a $20 minimum wage, voting rights for 16 and 17 year olds in school board elections, and more. This year, around 90 high school juniors will attend the event and engage in meaningful discussions with local leaders.
During the first half of the event, students will divide into groups that will focus on one local issue, and they will research the issue by conducting online research and speaking with local leaders. They then present their solutions to local leaders in the second half of the day. Three teams will be named finalists, then one team will be named the winner.
Approximately 50 community leaders will attend Doing Democracy Day to help students with research and judge final presentations. The leaders include employees from the Longmont Police Department, SVVSD’s superintendent Don Haddad, city council members, members from the League of Women Voters, former state senator Brandon Shaffer, and more.
Students will gain critical thinking and problem-solving skills as they tackle local issues, according to Justelle Grandsaert, a social studies teacher at Silver Creek High School. “We hope that each student realizes that their voice matters, that civics is relevant, and that we need their solutions in our community,” she said. “At the end of the day, the students and the leaders say the same thing about each other — ‘they are really smart and they really care about our community.’”
The event is open to the public.
