• How did you group go about making a decision for what to focus on for the project?
• 11th grade Essential ? - What is the role of the individual in creating and sustaining change? 
• How has your understanding of the electoral process and whether or not the US is a democracy evolved during this unit?
• How did you decide to best relay a message to a national audience with your marketing campaign?
  
  The process of deciding what to focus on was an interesting one. My group just began discussing voter-ship and what we personally thought would affect it. We all had a different viewpoint so it was a bit of a challenge. My group originally wanted to make voting mandatory but two other groups were doing that. We went with "Weekend Voting" instead. 
  
  The role of the individual in creating change is singular. Most times two people have the same idea, but the role of the individual is the vital one. Being able to think up an idea, develop it, recognize its flaws and attempt to reason why it works better than another is how positive change comes about. Once that process has taken place within one's own mind does the idea lend itself to be shared and worked on with others. 
  
  Voting and how the US does it has never been something I thought about, honestly. This unit has forced me to think about some of the major flaws in the democratic system and just how they could be fixed. Before, I assumed everyone voted and was surprised to learn that was not the case. 
  
  For ours it was showing the flexibility of the voting. America's busy, so we used that as the campaigning piece. Have Time to Spend? Vote on the Weekend

As we sat down as a group, our conversation focused on changes we would like to see concerning voting. We all agreed that we would like to see the voting age be lowered to at least age 16, making it possible for teens to vote.  We believe that if 16 and 17 year olds vote a wider majority of issues involving young people will be addressed.

  The main goal of our project is to convince the public that more teens should be allowed to vote. In order for an individual to create and sustain change is to have a voice in the change process. Voting is the only way to make a difference all the times.

  After  completing this project my understanding of the electoral process has improved dramatically. I now understand how much decision making, and preparation  that goes in to election day and voting. Learning all the information that I have about voting, I still believe America is a democracy, because everyone has the opportunity to take part in the decision making process, but the problem is the government adding new voting requirements.   

 In this unit I learned that there are so many different reasons why people come out and vote. The overall reason was to effect change in their community. I also learned that the process in which will allow people to vote can effect voter turnout.  Having Tuesday as a voting day , opening the polls at 7:00am and closing at 8:00pm limits the amount of people that can vote. Some people work all day and cannot find time to vote.

 To create a message to reach out to a national audience, we thought it would be best to create a video, and print ads, to show what we are trying to persuade people to do. In the video and print ads we thought to use slogans, and pictures, and the thoughts, and opinions, from real teenagers to make our ideas and points come alive.   

• How did your group go about making a decision for what to focus on for the project?
  Well, I was absent the day my group chose what the focus was going to be for the project. I would have chosen something different than focusing on felons, perhaps giving the right to vote to immigrants or sixteen year olds. But, throughout the project the thought of giving felons the right to vote grew on me. 
• 11th grade Essential ? - What is the role of the individual in creating and sustaining change? 
  The role of an individual in creating and sustaining change is: being able to point out what is needed to be changed within oneself- not by having someone else point out what is needed to be changed- as well as sticking to what they choose to change by believing in oneself and not giving up. 
  
• How has your understanding of the electoral process and whether or not the US is a democracy evolved during this unit?
  My understanding of the electoral process was not as enhanced as I hoped for it to be. I didn't question voters about the electoral process because when I interviewed them they seemed to not be interested in politics. But, I feel as if America is losing its label of being called democratic. The voter turnouts through out the years have not been high. This project helped me realize what kind of people it is that don't have the right to vote. If America is a democracy, everybody living in this nation should have the right to vote! 
  
• How did you decide to best relay a message to a national audience with your marketing campaign?
  I was in charge of writing the position paper. In the beginning I found it difficult to write it due to not agreeing to what I had to write about- how felons should have the right to vote. When I think about felons I think about all the crimes I can possible think of. I started out with "they shouldn't be able to vote!" to "they should be able to vote!" after my research. And so after actually agreeing with what my group said, I began write the position. What I tried to include in the position paper as best as I could was facts to support the main idea. I thought that by doing so the audience would be convinced and agree with the idea of giving the right to all felons of voting. 

https://sites.google.com/a/scienceleadership.org/election-holiday/

https://sites.google.com/a/scienceleadership.org/election-holiday/rebuttal-paper

Questions:
How did you group go about making a decision for what to focus on for the project?
We just told each other to work on each others part. And, who ever had problems we would help out. Also, when coming down to a decision on what to focus on we just agreed  

·       11th grade Essential ? - What is the role of the individual in creating and sustaining change? 
We have to always change. Because, no one's perfect.  Everyone has there own prefrefence so they are responsible for there own learning

My understanding of the electoral process improved, since I talked with someone close with the process so, he told me a lot of the things that he knew and he told me some things that I already knew, but he was a lot of help.

I thought it being written down would be the best way because people can read the interview and really understand what the person is saying other then a video because sometimes a video can go too fast and not explain anything.

• How did you group go about making a decision for what to focus on for the project?
  The group talked about our strengths and we then decided who should do what in the benchmark. We came to a conclusion without a problem. Then we all talked about what we think is the most effective way to get people to come out and vote, and we all came to an agreement that making voting mandatory would be the best possible option. 
• 11th grade Essential ? - What is the role of the individual in creating and sustaining change? 
  The role of an individual in creating a sustaining change is by making themselves heard and enforcing something to change something. 
• How has your understanding of the electoral process and whether or not the US is a democracy evolved during this unit?
  My understanding about the electoral process has allowed me to see that the US is losing it's right to really be called a democracy. By taking away the ability for people to vote you are keeping out important votes that could make the vote as best it can be. If there are voices unheard, then they can't make a difference. Having voting day on a day in which some people can't make it too and restricting it to one day makes it nearly impossible for some to vote. It is against the rights of a US citizen if you ask me. 
• How did you decide to best relay a message to a national audience with your marketing campaign?
  Well, my job was to make a video and advertise mandatory voting. I went about my process by thinking about what people like to see. I made a flashy and cool intro that would grab the attention of anybody watching. Then i showed a graphic that showed how unemployment has changed over the last decade or so. My goal was to have the viewer see that we have gone down the wrong road and the only way to change that is by voting and making a change, and having those unheard voices heard. 

            I think the role of the individual is to realize that they need to change, and then do it. Change is much better if the individual is the one who realizes that they need to change. Change is much less effective when someone is told to do it, because that is much different than coming to a realization that something is wrong.

            I used to know that voting wasn’t exactly majority, but I didn’t realize how unfair the Electoral College is.  It makes me think that voting should be a majority for it to be a democratic government. It also made me realize that we have the choice to vote, but if we don’t take advantage of that freedom it be a lot worse for the country.

We tried to show that there have been very small voting percentages in the past few years, capping at 61%. We said that with mandatory voting that if a person didn’t vote, then they would be charged a 100$ fine. We capitalized on this point, because a lot of people will choose to go out and take the time to go to the polls, rather than paying the fine.