APPC News : Student Voices

Student Voices Web site rated "A+" by Education World

nirenberg@appc — Thu, 01 May 2008 17:14:00 GMT

In an April 2008 review, Education World, Inc., a company devoted to helping make the Internet easier for teachers to incorporate into classroom learning, rated the Student Voices Web site "A+", the highest such ranking given by the organization. Read the review.

The Student Voices Web site provides news and resources on national and local government and elections and allows students to engage in online discussions on policy issues and elections, as well as youth-focused issues. Student Voices is a non-partisan civic education program designed to improve the dialogue of democracy among our nation's young people and encourage their civic engagement. Student Voices, created in 1999 by the Annenberg Public Policy Center (APPC) of the University of Pennsylvania, provides high school teachers with a unique and proven civics curriculum and interactive Web sites to use in the classroom. Working with teachers around the country, Student Voices helps young people learn about and discuss elections and local and national policy issues, and it connects them with government and community leaders.

Student Voices was also recently named a Keystone Program of The Pennsylvania Coalition for Representative Democracy (PennCORD), a coalition of state and national organizations committed to implementing civics education in classrooms and after-school programs in every Pennsylvania community. Read more.

For more information on Student Voices, contact Ron Nirenberg.

Bridge to be repaired: Another success for Canon McMillan Student Voices participants!

nirenberg@appc — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 14:35:00 GMT

Student Voices students and alumni from western Pennsylvania have more to be proud of today, as their project continues to get attention (and now, funding) from the legislature!

Students, school faculty and staff and residents from around the Canon McMillan community will be in the audience tonight as PennDOT displays its plans for repairs to the bridge over Interstate 79 in North Strabane Township. It was the Student Voices classes of Canon McMillan High School in 2006 who successfully lobbied the state legislature to name the structure Canon McMillan Alumni Bridge.

They were led by their history teacher, Tom Olszewski. After considering which issues they were most concerned about, their attention turned to a bridge with no name that stood just off of school grounds and was in need of repair. It was their idea to bring attention to the structure and have it named in honor of the alumni of their school, one of whom is State Rep. Tim Solobay. Canon McMillan High School sits on the southwestern end of the bridge.

Now the student “bridge-keepers” have been cheered by news that PennDOT is about to give the span the face-lift it has needed.

Rick Bell, Canon McMillan’s social studies department chair and actively involved with Student Voices, was quick to praise the efforts of those students and teachers, APPC and the Student Voices project. “Tom and I are extremely proud of the students from Canon McMillan responsible for this,” he said. “We believe this shows that students’ voices really can be heard.”

PennDOT currently is developing final design plans for rehabilitation of the bridge that carries State Route 1025 over Interstate 79 in Washington County. Work is expected to get underway sometime this summer.

In 2006, the Canon McMillan Alumni bridge renaming project was undertaken by social studies classes that participate in the school’s Student Voices program, organized by Bell. As part of their efforts, students launched a letter-writing campaign seeking the name change. State Rep. Solobay sponsored the bill while lauding the students for their work: “When these kids are older, every time they drive over the bridge and see the signs, they will remember the role they played in getting it named,” he said when the renaming legislation unanimously passed the House.

PennDOT plans to replace the deck of the bridge as well as to repaint the steel superstructure. One plan under consideration is to paint the bridge the Canon McMillan school colors of blue and gold, according to Valerie Petersen of PennDOT. That will be a fitting reminder for future classes of Canon McMillan of just what can be accomplished when pen meets paper and students speak out!

Links:

http://www.pahouse.com/prarchive/bridgename3.048.asp

http://www.thepittsburghchannel.com/washington/1571887/detail.html

Three Students, One Project and Harrisburg Perks Up Its Ears

sstranahan@appc — Mon, 28 Jan 2008 16:46:00 GMT

A prize-winning Student Voices project has caught the ear of two Pennsylvania lawmakers who now are pushing for hearings on a proposal to let 17-year-olds vote in the state's primary elections if they will be 18 (and eligible to vote) before the November general election.

"In the very beginning, it was just a civics-fair entry," said Doug Weisband, one of three students from Fox Chapel Area High School, near Pittsburgh, who created the project. "Day by day, it got more real."

Weisband, and classmates Julia Hazlet and Kevin Pflumm, saw their project take top honors in the fourth annual Greater Pittsburgh Student Voices civics fair. But that was just the start. They then took their idea to State Rep. Frank Dermody (D., Allegheny), who in conjunction with Rep. Richard T. Grucela (D., Northampton), is considering holding hearings on the idea.

Nine states already allow the practice.

For more information, see this Associated Press story:

http://www.philly.com/inquirer/local/pa/20080122_Pa__lawmakers_push_to_give_primary_vote_to_17-year-olds.html