For many Menlo students, this November will be the first time they interact with a presidential campaign — during the last presidential election nearly four years ago, the class of 2028 was in fifth grade and the class of 2025 hadn’t entered high school yet. And now, some seniors are even old enough to vote.
To meet this rising student interest, and perhaps continue to grow and guide political engagement, Menlo has built opportunities into assembly and lunchtime schedules. On Sept. 10, Schafer offered a lunchtime review of the election in Martin Hall, and he plans to do so again in October. According to Schafer, assembly time has already been allocated for students to present on key election topics like what the stakes are and how to think about this election.
For students looking for more, the Turn Up and Turn Out Civic Education Fair will span over three hours on campus on Sept. 21. Attendees will have the opportunity to meet national representatives, mayors, the board of supervisors and youth commissioners. According to the event’s agenda, attendees can visit over 30 booths with local and national nonprofits and advocate for issues they care about. Britney Otero, Menlo’s head librarian, will be leading a Q&A on “Navigating News You Can Use” with the CEO of Cal Matters, the editor of the Almanac, and a KQED reporter. “Around the election or all things political news and engagement, there’s a lot of information out there. Misinformation, disinformation, how do you discern between those, how do you critically engage with all the huge innovation and information that’s being filtered our way?” Otero said.
President Joe Biden abruptly dropped out in July, already making the 2024 election year unprecedented. That is not the only unprecedented thing to happen in this election so far: former President Donald Trump was targeted in an assassination attempt, something that hasn’t happened since the 1980s.
As Menlo students get more involved and interested, Menlo adapts to meet this interest. The Election class at Menlo offered every four years will follow the 2024 election, and expand to a range of other topics over the year. According to the course description, the class will also learn about the mechanics and architecture of American campaigns and elections. Upper School Director John Schafer has taught the course since 2020 and has especially noticed the spike in interest this year. “There’s a hunger to learn more; that’s why I’m providing these lectures,” Schafer said. “My theory is the more [students] get shown the ads and the strategies, the more interested they get [and] the more they follow the news themselves.”
For some students, interest in politics might start in the classroom, yet for senior Lauren Mrva, her passion was kickstarted at a Hillary Clinton rally in 2016. “I remember […] being amazed that a woman was running for president. I was so excited for her, and I have kept an eye on politics from then on,” Mrva said. Knowing this would be a high-stakes election, Mrva chose to get involved. During the primaries, she worked at the polls in Menlo Park; her responsibilities consisted of collecting and printing ballots while also assisting voters using electronic voting machines. Continuing involvement throughout the summer, she and three other Menlo students volunteered at Kamala Harris events in San Francisco. “The coolest part of the event was that I met Nancy Pelosi, directed Governor [Gavin] Newsom to his seat and watched VP [Kamala] Harris speak!” Mrva wrote.
Junior Sachin Sandhu also spends his summers engaging with officials at various governmental levels. Working with his dad to run the Livermore Airport, Sandhu focusses on economic development and expansion — a role that allows him to be actively involved in political outreach. “Often, I advocate for the airport to local city councils, county supervisors and, if needed, the congressman of that district,” Sandhu said.
