Kids Voting USA » Kids Voting Tampa Bay

Winners – Making an Impact Contest 6th – 8th Grade

Rachel Willis — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 15:26:51 +0000

This year’s winners for the 6^th – 8^th grade category are Madison Dowdy, Hunter Harvey, Elizabeth Hoepner, and Alisa Reneau from Lithia, Florida. Kristy Verdi is the project sponsor and social studies teacher at Randall Middle School. This project not only showed collaboration by involving the entire middle school, but also impacted the community. These students created a display honoring the victims of September 11^th outside the school for everyone to see. The display was in the shape of a flag made up of individual “markers” for each and every victim.

Click here to read the winning essay.

Winners – Making an Impact 9th – 12th Grade

Rachel Willis — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 15:25:58 +0000

This year’s winners for the 9^th – 12^th grade range are Tiara Brooks, Jessica Ireland, Tori Wilson, Michael Himes and Stephanie Walker from Armwood High School in Seffner, Florida. The sponsoring teacher is Tony Pirotta. These students presented an idea for a law, which requested the proper rights be granted to a seemingly invisible population of young people, unaccompanied youth, which is any one youth under the age of 21“who have been separated from both parents and other relatives and who are not being cared for by an adult who, by law or custom, is responsible for doing so”. Willis stated, “These students understand what it means to be an active citizen.”

Click here to read the winning essay.

Kids Voting Tampa Bay is Getting Recognized

Rachel Willis — Thu, 04 Aug 2011 19:56:50 +0000

The Martin County Supervisor of Elections, Vicki Davis, included a nice article about Kids Voting Tampa Bay and DoubleClick Democracy in her summer 2011 newsletter. The article mentioned how students from Warfield and Jensen Beach Elementary Schools voted on their favorite book during the Sunshine State Young Readers program. Students from kindergarten to third grade read a series of books and voted for the one they liked most. It also shared how students from Martin County High School and Clark Advanced Learning Center voted for their class officers; and, member of the LEADERship Martin County, Class 21, elected Crystal Stiles as their LEADERship Commissioner.

Martin County wasn’t the only county to recognize Kids Voting Tampa Bay this summer. The Hillsborough County Supervisor of Elections also added a page to their website that features Kids Voting Tampa Bay and DoubleClick Democracy.

August ’11 Educator of the Month

Rachel Willis — Thu, 04 Aug 2011 19:47:52 +0000

KVUSA is pleased to announce that Dennis Holt is the August Educator of the Month. Dr. Holt is the Secondary Social Studies Supervisor for the Hillsborough County school district. His leadership and support were instrumental in the success of the DoubleClick Democracy pilot program. The success of the DoubleClick Democracy in the 2008 Presidential Mock Election launched the locally built online voting system to national adoption. More than 115,000 students participated in the DoubleClick Democracy pilot program. Furthermore, Dr. Holt promotes and encourages Hillsborough County social studies teachers to participate in the Kids Voting Tampa Bay program.

April ’11 Educator of the Month

Bobby Fox — Wed, 06 Apr 2011 20:52:48 +0000

KVUSA is pleased to announce that Paula Lesko is the April Educator of the Month. Mrs. Lesko is the Social Studies Supervisor for the Pasco County School District. She promotes and encourages Pasco County social studies teachers to participate in the Kids Voting Tampa Bay program. Paula organizes candidate forums for high school students. Hundreds of students attend the forums. Thanks to Mrs. Lesko leadership and dedication to the program more than 50 percent of the student population of 70,000 participate in the KVTB mock elections. Kids Voting USA truly appreciates the work and passion Mrs. Paula Lesko demonstrates for our program.