Marin Student Elections Ambassadors Volunteer Hundreds Of Hours

Alysha: San Rafael, Caroline: Corte Madera, Jordan: Mill Valley, California — Star Students are found in classrooms, on concert and theater stages and at debate lecterns, and out in the community doing good things to make life better for all of us.

Here at Patch, we've launched an initiative to help recognize Star Students, and we’re working to tell the stories of these outstanding kids to their neighbors.

This submission comes from Elizabeth Iwamiya who nominated Alysha, Caroline, and Jordan of Alysha: San Rafael, Caroline: Corte Madera, Jordan: Mill Valley, California.

Star local student’s name

Alysha, Caroline, and Jordan

What grade is your star local student in?

Alysha, grade 12, Caroline grade 11, Jordan, grade 11

How do you know the star local student?

Alysha, Caroline and Jordan are Marin Student Elections Ambassadors and serve as Student Liaisons on the Student Elections Ambassador Program (SEAP) Steering committee. SEAP is a youth voter outreach program founded in 2018, sponsored by the Marin County Elections Department, the League of Women Voters of Marin County, and the Marin County Office of Education. I work for the Marin County Elections Department and manage this effort.

Why do you believe the star local student should be recognized?

Alysha, Caroline and Jordan have devoted hundreds of hours for non-partisan outreach to students and community members. SEAP Ambassadors are trained in the importance of youth voter participation and the registration process. At the start of each school year, each Ambassador agrees to hold voter outreach programs at their schools. In their roles as liaisons, Alysha, Caroline and Jordan oversee the enrollment, training and mentoring of other student ambassadors, helping the program grow and expand to more schools each year. They support the Ambassadors by sharing tried-and-true models and also encouraging them to use creativity and inspiration to develop their own initiatives and outreach activities. Alysha has been instrumental in developing the Student Town Hall event (now in its second year). At this unique event, Mayors and other top elected officials come together to interact with students, to speak about their path to leadership and hear and address the concerns of young people. Alysha has also been very involved in the creation of the slide deck that is used in training the new Student Ambassadors, greatly aiding in facilitating the perpetuation of the program. She also established and maintains an Instagram presence for the program as another way to promote participation. In addition, Alysha is a National Teen Board Member of the nonprofit organization, Beyond Differences. Caroline worked as an intern last summer with the Elections Department to build a system and web site training hub, Discover Democracy. This website provides her step-by-step guide and templates for Student Election Ambassadors to deliver voter outreach presentations to elementary and middle school students. These presentations are designed to inspire the next generation of voters to appreciate the power of their ballots to help shape the future of the country and their local communities. Caroline also serves on the Marin Youth Commission and is working on outreach to bring the Student Ambassador program to more students who speak languages other than English. Jordan expanded the SEAP program this year by recruiting 10 new Ambassadors! She also created a club at her high school to encourage students to become more civically engaged. She and her team organized an extremely successful voter drive to educate their peers on the importance of voting. Throughout the year they pre-registered/registered over 250 new voters! Jordan also took the lead this year to coordinate the participation of Student Ambassadors at several community events, including the Clean Slate Program, Marin Teen Girl Conference and the Bon Air Spring Community Fair. Jordan is looking forward to working as an intern over the summer with the Elections office to develop a new interactive model for outreach to elementary and middle school students.

What's one thing you want everyone to know about the star local student?

Alysha, Caroline and Jordan represent the best of our future. They care deeply about civic engagement and have devoted hundreds of hours towards educating young people on the importance of having their voices heard. All of us involved with SEAP are very grateful for their commitment and hard work.

Congratulations on your achievements, and all of our best wishes to you in the future, Alysha, Caroline, and Jordan!

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