Interested in politics? This club is for you

Callout meeting today after school

Social+studies+department+chair+Shannon+Singleton+is+part+of+a+group+starting+a+new+political+awareness+club.

Sarah Blair

Social studies department chair Shannon Singleton is part of a group starting a new political awareness club.

With the upcoming 2016 elections, news heavily concerning politics has been bombarding the media.

Some people may wonder how one would run a campaign or how they can get involved in the upcoming elections. Some may just be interested in learning more about politics and how they can get involved in the process.

Luckily, a group of Ben Davis social studies teachers had the idea of creating a club for students who are interested in these matters.

Jon Easter, Benjamin Neikirk, Michael Vetter, Joseph Belser, Matthew Smith, Shannon Singleton and Jessica Maiers are all Ben Davis staff members involved in running the Ben Davis Political Action Club (BD PAC). The club is for any student interested in politics. The first meeting will be today at 3:30 in A207.

The group had a great incentive to form this club.

“During the 2008 Presidential election, Ben Davis HS and Indianapolis were lucky to have many political events with candidates present,” said Singleton, department chair of social studies, “It was an unbelievable experience to have actual candidates for the Presidency here at our school and in our city speaking. As we approach this year’s mayoral and next year’s Presidential, Congressional, and Gubernatorial elections, we wanted to have in place a structure to inform students about how to get involved in and impact the campaigns. We hope that this club will allow for that.”

The club will include activities such as debating issues, viewing political morning shows and debates and discussing them, coordinating volunteer opportunities with campaigns and polling places, planning voter registration events and more.

The group hopes to “bring in guest speakers from campaigns and political offices, offer opportunities for students to debate issues and learn more about how the political process works, host twitter chats during debates, and more,” Singleton said. “Ultimately, we want the students to set some goals of what they would like to accomplish politically and then help them figure out how to do so.”