Lowell — While millions of Americans lined up at the polls this week, students in Lowell Area Schools voted in their own elections, both to simulate a historic presidential election and to decide the design of their school playground.
Woodchips? Castle? Nature Area?
At Cherry Creek Elementary School, students cast multi-part ballots, voting for their choice of three different large playground structures; whether or not to have a quiet nature area; and for a ground surface of pea gravel, wood chips or poured rubber.
“It gives the students a voice. Adults don’t always know that much about the playground, but kids do,” said fifth-grader Reagan Lambert, who helped run the polls with the fifth-grade Student Leadership team.
Second-grader Thea Callihan voted for a structure that looked like a castle and rubber ground cover.
“I don’t want pea gravel because it gets in your shoes, and on woodchips you might get a splinter,” she said.
Fourth-grader Chevy Donnelly voted for the castle-style structure too, and liked the idea of a quiet area. She chose rubber ground cover as well
“I thought (voting) was amazing, and I feel like I chose the best options,” she said.
Principal Craig Veldman said he’s been meeting with architects to plan the design for the $29.9 million renovation of Cherry Creek Elementary, to be paid for by the bond proposal passed in May. The project will include the new playground.
Construction on the school is expected to begin in late summer 2025 and the playground sometime during the two-and-a-half year process.
The 10-member Student Leadership team helped create the ballot in October.
“We talked about how important elections are and how our voice matters,” Veldmans said. “We wanted to focus on how we could get student voice for our playground.”
Veldman said he plans to share input from the students’ vote with architects to incorporate their ideas into the playground.
John Adams vs. Thomas Jefferson
In Lowell Middle School history teacher John Stempien’s classroom on Monday, eighth-graders researched Democratic-Republican Thomas Jefferson and Federalist John Adams, casting their votes for who they supported as the fourth president of the United States.
Students explained reasons to vote for Jefferson and Adams. Many said they liked that Jefferson was “for the people.”
Stempien pointed out that Jefferson was a slave owner, despite that claim.
“I respect John Adams for not having any slaves in a time where it was legal. I would have voted for John Adams,” said eighth-grader Leo Werner.
The lesson fits into the standard eighth-grade social studies curriculum, but is even more poignant during a presidential election, Stempien said.
“I mention to the students: ‘We have a presidential election coming up, and so you have to make a choice.’ Of course they think I’m talking about (the 2024 election), but then I say you have to choose between John Adams and Thomas Jefferson. All of a sudden it becomes less of a textbook-y thing.”
Students studied the candidates and their platforms, learning the evolution of parties, and that platforms and names of parties themselves are constantly changing. They also noted how views of both historic candidates line up with the current political parties.
Stempien said he wants students to learn to study candidates and what they stand for before they vote.
“One takeaway I want them to have is, when they come of voting age, to realize that when they make a choice in voting that it’s an informed choice.”
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