Op-Ed: Why every high school student should attend a political rally

Op-Ed: Why every high school student should attend a political rally

Photo Credit: Isabella Mahal

When I went to see Bernie Sanders speak at Colorado State University on Monday, October 17, I felt like I was a part of something. The Coloradoan article describes the ballroom as being “packed”, but that doesn’t tell the reader anything about what it’s like to stand among thousands of people, all of whom believe that the future of their country is in their hands, and sing Bruce Springsteen at the top of my lungs.

When I went to see Bernie Sanders, I felt like I had power. It doesn’t matter that I can’t vote for another two and half years. The volunteers who walked along the line didn’t care. There’s no age minimum to canvass, which involves going door-to-door and explaining why someone should vote a certain way, or work at the phone bank, and there were plenty of high schoolers and even kids whose parents offered to provide rides so they could help the campaign.

When I went to see Bernie Sanders, I felt hopeful. There are hundreds of thousands of students in the United States who can’t pay for college, but schools are opening more programs to help students learn about and receive scholarships. In fact, if a student wants to study medicine and work in the inner city to help underprivileged citizens, Sander’s foundation will cover as much of their education as possible. That’s what I’ve wanted to do since I was eleven years old, and now my dreams seem realistic.

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When I went to see Bernie Sanders, I felt like I was witnessing history. School classes tend to make students think of history in terms of dates on a timeline. Listening to an influential speaker say that “real change never comes without struggle” is enough to make a student realize that we are shaping history with every choice we make. Our country is a democracy. We have the privilege, and the civic duty, to go to the polls by November 8. If we can’t vote, we can still get involved.

When I went to see Bernie Sanders, I felt angry. The wage gap still exists. Climate change is having more effects on the world each year, and every country has a long way to go in transforming their energy sources. The United States still has the highest incarceration rate in the world. However, every one of these issues has change on the horizon. The first step will be acknowledging each problem. Then we can begin to solve them. We have the resources and the brainpower to do it.

When I went to see Bernie Sanders, I felt like I was a part of something. Carli Cobaugh, a sophomore at Fossil Ridge High School, attended the Donald Trump rally on October 3, 2016. She thinks it was a great experience, particularly “to understand what each of the candidates stood for and to see all the support.” It doesn’t matter who you support in this presidential election, or what your political views are in general. What matters is that you actively believe in something, and get out there and fight for it. As Marissa DeSimone, from Windsor High School, put it, “it’s all about the experience.”

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    SerenaOct 27, 2016 at 9:38 am

    I absolutely love the way you wrote this. I really like the way you use repetition, and I especially love how you emphasis the importance of going to any rally that expresses your beliefs.

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