Students in an Olds elementary school got a first-hand taste of what it's like to vote in an election.
On Oct. Oct. 12, students at Holy Trinity Catholic School cast their votes for town councillors as part of a province-wide educational program provided by CIVIX, an education charity.
More than 60,000 students from 934 schools representing 158 communities across Alberta were expected to vote. The full results were posted on the CIVIX website after polls closed on Oct. 16.
It's the first student vote program to be held for municipal and school board elections in Alberta, according to CIVIX officials.
Social studies and humanities teacher Laura McDonald coordinated the vote at Holy Trinity, held in the school library. Plans called for students in Grades 6, 7 and 8 to participate.
McDonald began teaching the unit about three weeks ago. She led them through lessons and materials provided by CIVIX. They also watched a video of the Olds and District Chamber of Commerce election forum, held Oct. 3 in the TransCanada Theatre.
McDonald said the students were "very excited, super excited" to learn all about democracy and voting procedures.
"I have the full attention of the class, and they're asking, ëwhen are we doing our vote?' ëWhen can we come down,'" she said.
"And when I suggested to the students I'll be picking people for different roles, like deputy returning officer. I said, ëanybody volunteering?' Everybody would raise their hands, so they were very excited. I would explain what a ballot clerk is and then I had an overwhelming number of volunteers for that."
"They're quite interested in everything about Justin Trudeau and we talked about the difference between municipal, provincial and federal governments," she added.
McDonald say that interest is a very good sign for democracy here in the future.
Grade 7 students Colin Chant and Angelina Nguyen were among those who voted.
Both voted for some incumbent councillors and some challengers.
Each said they chose incumbents because they thought their experience would be good for town council.
However, they chose some newcomers because, as Nguyen said, "they're new to it and I think everybody should have a chance."
Nguyen and Chant said it's important to participate in our democracy by voting.
"Everybody should have the right to vote so then everything is fair," Chant said.
"I have the full attention of the class, and they're asking, 'when are we doing our vote?' 'When can we come down.'"LAURA McDONALDTEACHERHOLY TRINITY CATHOLIC SCHOOL
