Contact Information:

Sandy Diamond

CECH
University of Missouri - St. Louis
#1 University Blvd.

369 Marillac Hall
St. Louis, MO 63121-4499

Phone: (314) 516-6823

Email: sdiamond@umsl.edu

 

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Kids Voting Missouri


Designed to foster civic awareness and involvement, Kids Voting Missouri combines dynamic, hands-on civics activities with an authentic voting experience.The program first came to the St. Louis region in 1996 when the Ritenour School District participated in a pilot project involving about 3,000 students.Under a license granted by Kids Voting USA, the Citizenship Education Clearing House (CECH) now directs Kids Voting Missouri through the UM-St. Louis College of Education.Since 1998, when CECH took over Kids Voting Missouri, the program has grown from 12 schools and 65,000 students to 27 districts and more than 229,000 students.This past Fall, more than 125,000 St. Louis area students in grades K-12 went to Kids Voting polls with their parents or other adults and voted for President, US Senator, US Congressman, Governor and a host of other state and local officials and a variety of state and local ballot propositions.Other Highlights from the most recent Kids Voting project include the following:

• Over 194,000 K-12 St. Louis area students studied portions of the special Civics Alive and Destination Democracy curricula and practiced registering to vote on special "Student Voter Registration Cards" provided by the St. Louis Rams and Schnucks.

  More than 750 "Teacher Leaders" received special training on how to integrate the Kids Voting lessons into their existing curricula.

  Over 2,000 St. Louis area volunteers served on the school district steering committees and staffed Kids Voting polling sites on Election day.

  More than 125 area 5th graders participated in Kids Voting Missouri's "Junior Poll Worker" Pilot Program -- first of its kind in the country.

  Several Kids Voting High Schools used peer tutors to teach lessons to younger students, held mock Presidential Debates and put on Debate Watch parties.

• More than 45 pre-service teachers from the College of Education at UM-St. Louis participated in a special pilot project and helped teach Kids Voting lessons and staff Kids Voting polls.