Election season has different meanings for different students. Some passively support a candidate, maybe engaging in a few debates during free periods, but aren’t old enough to vote. For some, politics is a game that does not hold their interest. A select few though, try to make a difference in the outcome of an election, and invest their time supporting a candidate or cause important to them. These three St. Paul Academy and Summit School students fit into the latter group.

Four years ago, senior Hagop Toghramadjian volunteered for Senator John McCain’s presidential campaign as an eighth grader. Disappointed by the results of that election, he is back for more, supporting McCain’s erstwhile rival, Governor Mitt Romney. “I really got energized when I realized how much Mitt has spent his life living his values. The Obama campaign is painting him as some kind of corporate vulture, but on a personal [level] he’s humble and generous,” Hagop said. Toghramadjian is on call for the Romney campaign as a phone bank volunteer, coordinating with their Minnesota chapter. “I like discussing the issues with people, even if they don’t agree with me,” he said

The most important issue for Toghramadjian is the national debt. “I’m surprised to see so many young people supporting a President who is mortgaging our future. He’ll help us with our student loans now, but we’ll be stuck in a morass of national debt for the rest of our lives if his policies continue.” He is skeptical of Romney’s chances in Minnesota, but feels responsible to help spread his conservative values. “People tend to think of Republicans as unintelligent reactionaries, but we have a viable set of ideas, which will bring America roaring back if it has the courage to adopt them.”

On the other side of the debate, senior Emily Nordquist enlisted with Organizing for America, a program aligned with the Democratic party, directed at young people aspiring to be political activists. As a youth campus organizer, she has helped coordinate activities for other high school students within the group, in addition to more traditional campaigning roles like knocking on doors and making phone calls to persuade people to vote for President Obama. “It’s really about activating the youth and doing some old fashioned community organizing,” she said of her work.

Nordquist supports Obama largely because of his funding for higher education through the Pell grants, and his repealing of the Don’t Ask Don’t Tell policy. She feels that young people have a responsibility to be politically aware “It’s really important for students to get informed about politics and get involved -whichever side they choose. Young people are the ones voting on their futures so it’s crucial for them to be politically aware.”
Sophomore Mansuda Arora volunteered with the group Minnesotans United for All Families to campaign against the proposed amendment to the Minnesota constitution that would define marriage as the union of one man and one woman. Her work involved doing data entry, listing the people who have volunteered with the campaign. She intends to volunteer further, making phone calls to persuade people to vote against the amendment.Arora opposes the amendment because she believes it is not voters’ responsibility to define marriage “Marriage is a right for people to have. I don’t think it should be up to a vote to ban someone’s right,” she said.