[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 46 (Monday, April 25, 1994)]
[Senate]
[Page S]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: April 25, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
                 NATIONAL STUDENT/PARENT MOCK ELECTION

  Mr. KENNEDY. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the 
following letter of the National Student/Parent Mock Election be 
printed in the Record.
  There being no objection, the letter was ordered to be printed in the 
Record, as follows:

                                           National Student/Parent


                                                Mock Election,

                                                   April 12, 1994.
       Mr. Speaker: I would like to call the Congress' attention 
     to one of the most successful parent involvement projects in 
     the nation. Over 5 million American students and parents in 
     all 50 states, Washington, D.C., and overseas (Germany, 
     England, Scotland, Italy, Portugal, Bahrain, France, Holland, 
     Japan, Korea, The Marshall Islands, Guam, The Virgin Islands, 
     and Puerto Rico) participated in the 1992 National Student/
     Parent Mock Election. They met all across the country and 
     around the world to cast their votes on who would win the 
     national elections and to vote their ``recommendations to the 
     President and Congress'' on six key national issues. Every 
     state had a ``State Election Headquarters.'' ``State Election 
     Headquarters'' called their votes in to ``National Election 
     Headquarters'', as over 20 million viewers watched on 
     national television. A national television program was aired 
     for two hours on C-SPAN, showing students, and parents all 
     across the country participating in the project's activities 
     Scholastic Magazines has joined the Mock Election coalition 
     and by 1996 will provide Mock Election materials to 20+ 
     million students, elementary through high school.
       The University of Colorado's formal evaluation of the 1992 
     National Student/Parent Mock Election found participating 
     students showed increases in:
       Political decision-making ability;
       Informed involvement on current issues;
       The belief that voting is important;
       The belief that Social Studies classes are relevant;
       The discussion of political and election topics with 
     parents; and
       A reduction in the feeling of powerlessness.
       I am pleased to announce that my own state, Massachusetts, 
     was a winner of the Time/NASBE Award for ``Outstanding 
     Leadership in Voter Education'' in conjunction with the 
     National Student/Parent Mock Election. The awards, for the 
     best statewide Mock Election projects will be presented here 
     at the Capital on April 26.
       The Massachusetts' Mock Election was organized by a 
     coalition of 18 newspapers, the Massachusetts Newspaper in 
     Education Council led by the Lawrence Eagle Tribune., the 
     Massachusetts League of Women Voters, the Bank of Boston and 
     Boston Celtic, Dee Brown, who all worked together to bring 
     materials, programs and funds to schools.
       The Eagle-Tribune was ``State Election Headquarters.'' 
     Local students answered phones all day and tallied election 
     results. The 1992 Massachusetts Student/Parent Mock Election 
     was an overwhelming success; more than 174,000 students cast 
     their votes.
       I would like to congratulate the Lawrence Eagle-Tribune and 
     the other Time/NASBE Award winners as well. They are:
       California Association of Student Councils, Mr. Gil Soltz 
     and San Jose Mercury News, Ms. Kathleen Franger.
       The Hartford Courant, Ms. Marcy Munoz/Ms. Colette Yeich, 
     and Connecticut League of Women Voters, Ms. Jill Cromwell.
       Maryland State Department of Education, Ms. Susan Travetto.
       The Eagle-Tribune, Ms. Stephanie Johnson.
       Genesee Intermediate School District, Ms. Barbara Harper/
     Ms. Rachel Moreno, and Detroit Newspaper Agency, Ms. Sharon 
     Zumberg, Missouri School Boards Association, Mr. Brent Ghan.
       Northeastern Educational Television of Ohio, Inc., Mr. 
     Steve Mitchell/Ms. Cathy Burwell.
       Tennessee Department of Education, Mr. Doug Vickers.
       At the April 26 kick-off for the 1994 National Student/
     Parent Mock Election in the U.S. Capitol, two new National 
     Student/Parent Mock Election awards will be presented as 
     well, The NASSP/John Herklotz Award for ``outstanding 
     contributions to teaching democracy'' for the best schoolwide 
     Mock Election projects, and the NASC/Ruth Hollander award for 
     ``outstanding contributions to participation in democracy'' 
     for the best student led projects. I would like to 
     congratulate these winners:


                       NASSP/JOHN HERKLOTZ AWARD

       Washington Elementary School, Kathleen Meistrell.
       R.R. Moton Elementary School, Don Strahan.
       Lehr Public School, Yvonne Engelhart.
       Lewis F. Mayer Junior High School, Jane G. Bechtel.
       Forest Hills Middle School, Rosemary Raptosh.
       Felten Middle School, Kay Maska.
       Overbrook School, Caroline Baker.
       Norview High School, Catherine J. Lassiter.
       Pleasants County Middle School, John Eichorn.
       Tongue River Middle School, Merry O'Hare.
       Grayslake Middle School, Eric Skoog.
       Metcalf Elementary School, Christine Southworth.


                       NASC/RUTH HOLLANDER AWARD

       Palm Beach Lakes Student Council, Stuart Sabin, Advisor of 
     Student Council/Activities Director.
       Associated Student Congress of Baltimore City, Mal 
     Dutterer, Specialist, Student Relations Office.
       Huntsville High School Student Council, Shirley Jackson, 
     Faculty Advisor.
       Kentucky Youth Association/State YMCA, Michael D. Haynes, 
     Executive Director.
       On November 3, 1994, In 1994, American students and parents 
     will once again meet in all 50 states and all around the 
     world to cast their votes on who will win the Congressional 
     and Gubernatorial elections. (The key questions will be which 
     party will win control of the Senate? the House? the 
     Governorships?, and vote their recommendations on 6 key 
     national issues. The results of their vote will be the 
     ``Recommendation of America's Students and Parents to the 
     Congress and the Governors'').
       The U.S. Congress has voted an appropriation for the 1994 
     National Student/Parent Mock Election and the objective of 
     the kick-off in the Capitol is to invite all of America's 
     students and parents to participate. The National Student/
     Parent Mock Election is Co-Chaired by Paul G. Kirk, Jr. and 
     Frank J. Fahrenkopf, Jr. and has been endorsed by both the 
     Democratic and Republican National Committees, 50 National 
     educational, civic and religious organizations, from the 
     Council of Chief State School Officers to The League of Women 
     Voters and The U.S. Chamber of Commerce cooperate on the 
     project.
       I urge my colleagues to write to their states' school 
     superintendents and encourage them to involve their students 
     in this massive effort to pass the torch to a new generation 
     of voters.
       The purpose of the National Student/Parent Mock Election is 
     to turn the sense of powerlessness that keeps young people, 
     and their parents too, from going to the polls, into a sense 
     of the power of participation. It is feelings of 
     powerlessness, psychologists point out, that are the root 
     cause of violence. The Center for Action Research found the 
     National Student/Parent Mock Election REDUCED feelings of 
     powerlessness. The project uses the motivation of the 
     elections to teach the rule of law instead of the rule of 
     gangs. It seeks to help young Americans learn how, in a 
     government ``of the people, by the people and for the 
     people,'' they can effect change with votes instead of 
     violence, ballots instead of bullets. It works to help 
     today's violence-prone generation discover they do not need a 
     gun to be heard.
       In 1994 the National Student/Parent Mock Election will 
     initiate a new pilot project to combat violence. ACTIONS 
     invites the students of America to create their own pilot 
     project to help combat violence in their community. Students 
     from elementary school through college level are encouraged 
     to organize a project, with the assistance of an adult 
     advisor, designed to help turn around the violence in their 
     community. The first project to be accepted in each state as 
     an official National Student/Parent Mock Election ACTIONS 
     project will receive $150.00 towards expenses. There is no 
     limit to the number of pilots per state, or the kinds of 
     projects student might undertake in their community. (Some 
     possible examples: working to secure street lights for a dark 
     neighborhood, organizing after school activities for 
     unsupervised younger children subject to gang inducements, 
     submitting the student's own ideas for legislation to the 
     state legislature and working to have their legislation 
     enacted.)
       To become an official ACTIONS pilot, groups must fill out a 
     brief questionnaire describing their plans, the affiliation 
     of their adult advisor, the group's chairman or leader, et 
     cetera. Applications must be signed by the responsible adult.
       ACTIONS groups will exchange ideas and experiences with 
     each other throughout the 1994-1995 school year. At the end 
     of the school year, the five most successful ACTIONS project 
     leaders will be awarded a free trip to Washington, D.C. to 
     meet each other and share experiences in the nation's 
     capital. The most successful project will receive a first 
     prize award of two tickets overseas.
       Groups interested in participating in ACTIONS should send a 
     stamped self-addressed envelope labeled Actions to the 
     National Student/Parent Mock Election, 7925-A North Oracle 
     Road, P.O. Box 382, Tucson, AZ 85704.
       There is no greater legacy any of us can leave then the 
     legacy of democracy.

                          ____________________