[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 157 (2011), Part 6]
[House]
[Pages 8435-8436]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                       RECOGNIZING MIKE CONNOLLY

  (Mr. CICILLINE asked and was given permission to address the House 
for 1 minute.)
  Mr. CICILLINE. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize Mike Connolly, 
an educator at the Charles E. Shea Senior High School in Pawtucket, 
Rhode Island, for his leadership in launching the Voters in the 
Classroom initiative. Voters in the Classroom is a statewide mock 
election initiative involving nearly 25 percent of public high schools 
across the State of Rhode Island.
  Mr. Connolly's Voters in the Classroom initiative is an effective 
classroom-based program helping to prepare students to be engaged 
public citizens. Students in the Voters in the Classroom program 
participate in mock statewide referendums on important topics, 
establish voting procedures through classroom discussions and 
assemblies, and staff polling places at their schools.
  I recently visited the students and educators at Shea High School and 
have seen firsthand the importance of this program. Civic education 
programs like this are key to the success of our democracy because they 
increase the likelihood that young people will engage in the election 
process when they become of age.

[[Page 8436]]

  I congratulate Mike Connolly on this achievement and thank him for 
his forward-thinking commitment to Rhode Island's students and the 
preservation of our democracy.

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