If you look around Westport, it’s hard to avoid the excess of political lawn signs. Even if you try to avoid the barrage of politics in the physical world, opening up social media is no different.
Due to the hyper awareness of politics in today’s world, young people’s interests in politics have peaked to help shape the world they want to live in. Looking at politicians’ campaigns locally and nationally, there is a noticeable presence of student participants and voices within the Staples community.
Hyla Dotson ’26 spent her time during election season campaigning for Kamala Harris.
“This election was especially important to me because I am a girl living in a world that has unleashed a war on women,” she said. “I wasn’t even really fighting for Kamala, I was fighting for me and my sisters rights.”
Dotson, alongside her dad and friends, painted signs for the DNC which were then distributed around the predominant swing state, Pennsylvania. Doston additionally made handmade shirts advocating for the Democrats and handed them out to anyone who wanted one.
“Education is the best way to encourage others to become more involved. Oftentimes, people don’t understand how these policies will impact them or the people they love so they aren’t interested in learning more,” Dotson said.
Rei Seltzer ’26 was an intern for local Democratic candidate Jonathan Steinberg where he made campaign calls, handed out informational brochures and attended the local debates. Seltzer is also a part of SLOBS (the Service League of Boys) through which he handed out stickers and encouraged civic participation.
“I got involved in the election because I have always liked civics and SLOBS has always run Election Day sticker handouts,” Seltzer said. ”I got out that all voting is good voting, even if I had to hand stickers out to people whose views opposed mine.”
Kaya Halpert ’27 was also a part of SLOBS election day sticker handout. Although initially participating in the handout for volunteer hours, Halpert learned a lot from his time as a volunteer.
“I overall enjoyed the volunteering as it was very easy to hand out stickers, but it also gave me a way to engage with voters,” Halpert said. “I wanted to get to hear the thought process of first time voters, which I met a lot of.”
