CPP recognizes political savvy of high school students | Center for Political Participation

By May 6th 2011

McDowell High School won the Best Overall Campaign at the CPP's Model Campaign USA competition May 4.

MEADVILLE, PA—The Center for Political Participation at Allegheny College hosted its largest ever Model Campaign USA program this year, with 180 area high school students and teachers gathering on campus for a mock campaign on May 4.

Several high school teams won awards recognizing their achievements in conducting exemplary political campaigns. The award for Best Overall Campaign went to McDowell High School, Erie.

“These students from our high schools, and from Allegheny, are the future leaders of the United States, and are now better equipped to conduct themselves and treat others with dignity and civility,” said Suzanne Sitzler, director of the McDowell Honors College of Leadership and Service.

Model Campaign USA is a semester-long program, held every other year, to teach high school students the art and ethics of political campaigning. Allegheny political science students have been visiting participating high schools since the end of January, teaching such things as demographics, polling, press relations, direct voter contact and fundraising. The program culminates with the final competition day, when judges decide which high school conducted the best campaign and which ones excelled in such areas as targeting, ethics, and best use of social media.

CPP Director Daniel M. Shea, Ph.D., said this year’s event marked the sixth time the center has sponsored the campaign program.

“It’s always a success and it’s great to see these young people develop a real interest in politics. They find out that it’s not just for older people, and that they can have an impact in the political arena,” Shea added.

Allegheny President James Mullen delivered a rousing speech to the seven regional high schools that participated in this year’s competition, challenging students to get involved in the political process.

“I hope you take the conversations and lessons you learned today and think about running for office yourself someday,” Mullen said, adding, “And when you do, demand civility. In too many cases, politics is about negativity and mean-spiritedness. It’s not going to change unless your generation steps up.”

Students were given tasks throughout the day and created their own video commercials and press releases. Using Facebook and Twitter, many students explored the benefits of social media in furthering their campaign platforms.

Julianna Twigg of Wilmington Area High School in New Wilmington, Pa., said she wasn’t sure what to think of Model Campaign until everything came together on competition day.

“I had a lot of fun with Model Campaign,” Twigg said. “When I first signed up, I wasn’t sure how I would like it, but now that I’m here, I’ve definitely learned a lot about politics that I didn’t know before.”

Besides Wilmington and McDowell, other high schools that participated this year were: Cambridge Springs, Fort LeBoeuf, Grove City, Meadville, and Rocky Grove.

Here were the 2011 award recipients:

Cambridge Spring High School, Team A—Best Press Relations
Fort LeBoeuf High School, Team C—Best Electronic Media, Best Direct Voter Contact
Fort LeBoeuf High School, Team D—Best Polling
Grove City High School—Best Targeting
McDowell High School—Best Overall Campaign, Best Ethical Standards, Best Fundraising
Meadville High School—Best Use of Social Media
Rocky Grove High School—Best General Strategy
Wilmington Area High School—Best Public Relations

Here are links to the YouTube campaign commercials generated by the high schools this year: