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Bobby taking picture in front of polling place

Polling place Outside of polling place

Sample Ballots

In my group we walked around the neighborhood visiting different polling places. We approached the people outside and introduced ourselves. Many of the people outside were kind and informative. They asked us some questions about the committee of Seventy, and what kind of things we were looking for in this experience. We visited the polling places in the district. They were often held at community known places with a decent amount of space on the pavement. We met normal pedestrians, the Judge of Elections, and other volunteers that were handing out flyers. Being involved with elections was sort of scary. People kept asking questions that I didn’t know the answer to, and speaking to people is not one of my strengths. Many of the people knew exactly what their answers were without any clarifications for the questions. Some people wanted a further explanation, or they needed to explain their answers before actually answering. The polling both had a curtain and the person was hidden. Voting usually did not take long, and there were snacks. Some people were a little hostile about us being at their polling place, but others welcomed us.  

The sample ballots they gave us has certain people’s names in red and others in blue. In class we discussed that people who paid more money had their name in red. Outside, many of the volunteers would tell people a candidate's name and say, “For ______ press number 22!”. Although we went to different polling places, the sample ballots were all the same. It was interesting to see the people’s names on the sample ballot. There were posters everywhere advertising to vote for a particular candidate. My group member and I surveyed a couple people. The people were volunteers and also pedestrians. Their answers were pretty synonymous. I stood around more so than ask questions because I was shy. I still don’t understand a lot about how elections work. I am struggling to understand the difference of voting, how politicians can win in one vote, but lose in the other. I have a couple more years until I am able to vote, but I am glad I am getting a head start.

This was my free election day in America and I was not excited at all. There was a fear instill in me. Since I have been living in Jamaica election days were filled with crimes and violence against supporters of the opposite side. On April 26, 2016 I stepped outside my door with the fear that something may go wrong but I had the brightest smile on my face. I prayed that everything went well. I went to meet my friend Valerie and we went to the first polling station. It was so quiet and calm. Everyone was minding their business and going about their day. I asked my questions and take pictures of course because I was having a good time and I was learning so much about the election process.

The second polling station I went was very interesting. The people outside were so kind and they took the time to answer all the questions I had to ask. They even went as far to explain why they choose the answers they did. The gentleman had allowed me inside and while I was inside he explained the voting process and he showed me a visual presentation and basically taught me how to vote. So thanks to that gentleman when it’s time for me to vote I will be ready because I now have a better understanding of the voting process and how to carry out the procedures. As I walked outside I ran into two men that were also representing the Committee of Seventy and we had the best conversation ever. It was pretty interesting. Experience like this helps young people to go out and meet new people and see new faces and have conservation with people who share different ideas.

I walked another four blocks to get to the other polling station and I met some interesting men who were most willing to take the survey and even took pictures with us. That was pretty cool. This was my first election and it was very good and interesting. Hope can be like this when I have the opportunity to vote.

Yaseen Thomas

History

Mr. Hussey

4/27/2016

Election Volunteering Experience

My morning started off with delayed trolleys that set my day back a little off early with a lot of walking. I can not say i enjoyed that, but I eventually I arrived to the polling place ready to shake people down with questions.  My group of four and I met up at a library on 34th & Haverford and began trying to approach people respectively with a list of five questions. Most people had some time for us but there were some others that had to rush to “work” perhaps.

(Group & I outside of 34th & Haverford Poling place)

One thing I did realize early was that we were not at the most popping polling place. There was little to know outgoing traffic to get some Talley marks in. I started out by asking one older gentleman the questions and he seemed as perplexed as I was reading them. Some of them were complex and very wordy for the average person to comprehend. I think I  had the hardest turnout with question three. That was a very ongoing complex question, and was hard to read and understand.

After we got some data from that polling place we set out to find a better location and wound up on 36th & Powelton. There was a little more traffic and data to be collected. People here were pretty respectful and actually had some time for us. They happily answered the survey questions and understood them well. We then headed over to some place on 33rd. Street that was on Drexel’s campus. It was interesting to see a much younger group of voters but they didn’t have much time for us. I guess Drexel has a very busy schedule.

After the Drexel spot we went to get something to eat took some pictures and departed. On my own I wanted to find more data so I could have a stronger evidence. I headed to my local polling center on 47th and Chester and collected most of my data there. It was a lot of foot traffic and a lot of participants who understood the questions and also answered them with giving me feedback. Overall it was a good experience but I do have to say it was a hot and tiring one also. One thing I want to know is where does all the money go to a person that loses a campaign?

On Tuesday April 26,2016 I volunteered with the Committee of Seventy by going to different polling places and collecting ballots and asking people survey questions. We were responsible in asking four questions to as many many that we could but only the people who were done voting. The four questions were 1. Would you support allowing voters the option to request and submit absentee ballots before Election Day without offering a reason or excuse, 2. Would you support allowing voters the option to vote for a certain period before Election Day at a select number of early voting locations, 3. Would you support amending the PA COnstitution to create an independent Citizens Redistricting Commission responsible for drawing Congressional and state legislative districts, 4. Would you support allowing independent and third party voters to vote in primary election. They voters had the choice to say Yes, No or Uncertain even though that seems so simple not all gave me a simple answer. I had the chance to go 4 polling places around my neighborhood on Election Day Volunteering for the Election Day was a great learning experience for many reasons. One reason it was a learning experience for me because I was actually involved in election which made me become more aware about it. It also made me realize that voting is really important because though it may not seem like your vote will matter it actually will. It also taught me that you don’t have to know everything to vote because while I was asking the people the survey questions not all of them knew what the questions meant. Though it was a great learning experience there were some challenges such as voters not wanting to answer the questions or them not understanding it. During this great experience I did not have the chance to meet anyone special or any of the candidates running. After collecting ballots and asking voters survey questions we were responsible for sending the pictures and tallies for the survey that we took to the Election Ambassador Program Coordinator Walker Moseley. I am glad that I had the chance to volunteer for Election Day and hope more high schoolers get the chance to do it to become more aware about what they will eventually have to do in the future.

Jasseca Chiem

U.S. History

Mr. Hussey

April 27, 2016

Campaign Reflection Experience

During my experience volunteering for the polling campaign, it was not what I expected it to be. My first thought was that there would have been more people out in front of the polling place, handing ballots and such during voting times. However there weren’t. There was one person handing out ballots and one person standing by the door at the polling place i was at. What I did during the time that i was volunteering was stand in front of the polling place.

The polling place that I went to was the one taking place at Taggart Middle School. Outside, I was out waiting for people to come in to vote and wait for people to come out from voting to ask them questions from the survey that  we were given from the organization we were volunteering for, The Committee of Seventy.

During my time out there, I did not meet anyone apart from the volunteers who were handing out ballots and directing people on where to vote and how. Overall, I think that volunteering for the elecetion was a good experience, to be involved with the election that was taking place in Philadelphia. However, I did forget to take photos during my volunteering time but I was able to collect a few artifacts from the polling place. But one of the artifacts was a bit shady because the democratic voting paper only had Hilary Clinton as the Democratic Candidate in red and I thought that it was a bit weird that it was like that.

This artifact is a Democratic Ballot listing those in the Democratic party that is running for a certain position. As you can see, only Hilary Clinton is listed as a Democratic candidate running for president.

This artifact was being handed out to persuade voters to vote for Zappala, Democrat for Attorney General.

This artifact was being handed out to persuade voters to vote for Chaka
Fattah, for U.S. Congress.

Election Volunteering Experience By Eliza Meketon

My time canvassing for Hillary Clinton was definitely an eventful time. When I first came to the canvassing coordinator’s house I was bombarded with Clinton propaganda and the enthusiastic face of a woman who was a little to high on Hillary. She was a very genious host and she got me prepared for the next three grueling hours. She gave me the script to read to Hillary supporters. She then proceeded to give me a list of the supporters names and addresses, as well as a map of the area. I then began to hyperventilate due to my utter lack of directional sense. Unfortunately this fact was made worse by me not having a car to take me from house to house and the weather being a humid 80 degrees. The locations of the houses ranged from Abbington, Stenton, Chestnut hill, Evergreen, Meade St, Bethlehem, and more. By the end I had knocked on 27 houses, however I only got to talk to 4 supporters. The first actual supporter I had met was incredibly nice. I stumbled on my speech I was supposed to give her, and asked if she was going to vote today, if she was supporting Hillary, and if she knew her polling system (essentially my job was to promote and remind Hillary supporters to vote.) She gave me advice on how to address people which was very helpful, and I then thanked her for her time. One very memorable moment was when a car of teenage boys pulled up next to me and asked who I was campaigning for. I then blabbed “Hillary Clinton” with a smile and a stutter. They nodded their heads and said “ok.” I had never really been someone to state out loud their political ideas for fear that if I said it to the wrong person I would be judged, harassed, or worse. With the hostile political atmosphere of our country, in which people are getting taunted, injured, or killed for showing off their political beliefs. Luckily for me Philadelphia is a pretty democratic city so the likelihood of being excessively hounded by opposite parties was not likely. However I still felt uncomfortable putting my beliefs on my body through buttons, or any sort of propaganda. I felt the need to tell people this is for a school project, due to the fact that I most likely would never have done this if it weren’t necessary. I respect other people’s opinions and ideas and by publicly advertising a politician, it feels like I’m telling those who disagree, are wrong for having their own opinion, even if I do happen disagree with it, everyone is entitled to their own opinion. Overall it was an ok experience, but the heat mixed with the apathetic answers I received from the people may have tarnished my time canvassing. I think I can cross this off my list as possible job careers, but I am glad I did it. I think that everyone should try something that is a little out of their comfort zone every once in awhile. Some quick questions I have about elections are why do we have elections every four years instead of some other denomination? Also who  decided that the electoral college was the deciding factor for who becomes president? Why can’t the popular vote be the deciding factor for choosing the president?

My three pictures

Picture #1

Picture description: This is a list of the names of documented Hillary supporters and their addresses. There were four different sections. One was why the person couldn’t talk with me, then if they did take a moment to talk to me, I then proceed to the next category. This category consisted of me asking about voting for Hillary Clinton, like if they were definitely voting for her or if they were unsure, and so on. The next two categories were if I wanted to try again and knock on the door of someone who wasn’t able to talk to me the first time, and then basically filling out the same info as I mentioned before.

Picture #2

Photo Description: This is a photo of me with my Hillary support button that I was given by my coordinator. It was really interesting walking around with a button that out right stated my political standing. Some people nodded their head when the saw the button and others showed suspicion or discomfort, but then again that could have been because I was wearing a wool sweater in 80 degree weather.

Photo #3

Photo Description: This is a very blurry photo of my canvassing organizer. She was incredibly nice and she even had cookies inscribed with Hillary’s name. She had signs, folders, everything Hillary you could think of was in this woman's house.

Artifacts Photos

Artifact #1

Artifact description: This is an information leaflet telling people some more info about Hillary Clinton. It also tells people about Hillary. Also it tells people the time in which they can vote.

Artifact #2:

Artifact Description: This is the speech that we were told to give to the supporters. It basically just tells people thanks for  being a supporter and when and where to vote. I was very bad at giving this speech because I stuttered every time and I didn’t know the appropriate amount of information to summarize.

Artifact #3:

Kashia Bumpess

Mr.Hussey

American History

27 April,  2016

Primary Election Volunteer Experience

             My experience volunteering with the committee of seventy was surprisingly a good

experience.At first I thought it was going to be a bad experience because I didn’t want to spend my day off volunteering at polling stations but i’m actually happy I got the chance to do this because I learned a lot about voting which could benefit me when I can actually vote myself and also I met a lot of nice and interesting people.I volunteered in ward 5 so I went to the Land Title Building and the University of Arts..When I got to the voting stations it wasn’t really busy and a lot of people didn’t vote yet so I stood outside with my partners Jaidah, Tsion, and leyitha and associated with some of the other volunteers of the committee of seventy. When people finally started to come and vote I waited until some people came out to ask them questions.Not a lot of people stopped and actually answered the questions but the ones who did answered the questions to their best ability. I did have to explain what absentee vote is and I had to explain what questioned 3 and 4 meant some of the times.

         As I mentioned earlier when I was volunteering I met and associated with some of the other volunteers of the committee of seventy.Most of them were elderly didn’t really see a lot of young people volunteering. I did this one nice elderly volunteer at the Land Title Building she was telling my partners and I how it is good to get involved in politics at a young age and she even took our picture for us so we could send it to Mr.Mosely to let him know we was there.One question that I do have about the election is will these votes count in their presidential election to or not? .We couldn’t collect many artifacts like flyers because at the University of Arts the volunteers were standing inside the building even though they are not supposed to be inside the building.They were passing out flyers and we couldn’t get any because they were inside and we weren’t allowed to go in there and they weren’t passing a lot of flyers out at the Land Title Building. Some pictures we took are below and also pictures of the artifacts collected.

My experience with election volunteering was for the most part a positive one. I did encounter a few resistant participants, but my group and I made the day fun and original.

I volunteered in West Philadelphia around the Drexel campus area. There were not a lot of people out voting at the time. However, the people that did come out to vote were supportive of what we were doing. When we needed to ask people questions most of them stopped and were willing to answer them. There were five questions total, but they were worded in a difficult way. Often times we found ourselves rephrasing the question for people to understand. I believe next time in order to make this more successful the questions should be worded simpler. They should be worded differently for people that do not have a very extensive background in politics.

Another thing that may have made this experience better is going at a later time. I think it should be at a later time because a lot of people are at work at the time that we were out there which was 9AM to 1PM. This may help get a better poll outcome on the survey.

Being involved in Election Day in Philadelphia was an original experience. My group and I encountered a variety of people. Some that were willing to speak to us and some that were not. The ones were not willing to speak to us mainly had to go to work or something else important. The ones that did speak to us were pleasant people to encounter. One guy, in particular, gave us a lot of things to think about as far as our next time coming out. He told us that we should get involved in this process earlier than election day. I do agree with him. We were taught extensively about politics, but more hands on work would be good.

Overall, this experience was an enlightening. I will be going out to vote the first year I am eligible to. Also, since Election Day I have urged the adults in my life to get out and vote!

Below are some sample ballots and a group photo:

David Baker

Mr. Hussey

U.S. History

April 27, 2016

Volunteer Experience

As a student volunteer of the Committee of 70 my group and I walked around the Roxborough area assisting the elderly with the voting process as well as answering questions they did not understand.  Although the process was not fun, I thought it was interesting. My group was assigned ward 21. The four locations we visited were; Cook Wissahickon School, Andorra Branch Library, Houston Recreation Center, and Saul High School. The process was nothing like I expected, I thought that there would be lines of people at each location and that they would know what the questions ment. I was lucky to see maybe four people at each location and I had to read the background information for most of the questions I asked. I did not see anyone less than forty years old. Walker made it sound like were were going to be doing an amazing thing and help the community and meet new people. I am sure the data we gathered was important, but out of the dozen people I asked about five of them said they had time to answer my questions. All the people were trying to do is vote but people would keep giving them flyers trying to sway them to vote for whoever they wanted to win. When they exit the building they are bombarded with questions from other people and when they get to me they are tired of asking questions and they walk away or answer the question without any thought. I know the importance of voting, but it seems like it is more work then it is worth to cast your vote and I think this is why young people do not vote. One question I have is why can't we vote online? It would be more convenient easier to do, and you don't have to go anywhere.  But at the end of the day it was not a bad experience I walked away with a ton of flyers, committee of 70 lanyard, and a sweet Sean Stevens pen.

(Pink election Ballot)

(Andorra Branch Library signs)

(Sweet Sean Stevens Pen)

Lyza Newbern

Mr.Hussey

U.S. History

April 26, 2016

2016 Primary Election

On April 26, 2016 the people of Pennsylvania exercised their right to vote in republican and democratic primary election. The Primary Election is the election when you vote to who you want to see on the ballot for president in November. As a high school member of the Committee of 70 it was my duty to visit as many polling places in the 21st ward of Philadelphia, help voters with any questions they had about the ballot, collect sample ballots and ask voters

(Photo taken at the Andorra Branch Library)

after they voted unbiased questions to help better the government in Philadelphia and Pennsylvania. We asked the voters five questions after they casted their ballot, (1) Would you support allowing voters the option to request and submit absentee ballots before Election Day without offering a reason or excuse?; (2) Would you support allowing voters the option to vote for a certain period before Election Day at a select number of early voting locations?; (3) Would you support amending the PA Constitution to create an independent Citizen’s Redistricting Commission's responsible for drawing Congressional and state legislative districts?; (4) Would you support allowing independent and third party voters to vote in primary elections?; (5) Would you support allowing young people aged 16 and 17 the opportunity to pre-register to vote? (Voters must still be 18 or older to cast a ballot)? Something that was interesting to me was when I introduced myself and told a woman what I was there for and asked her if I could ask her questions she asked me what kinds of questions I had. I then told her I was with the Committee of 70 and that it was a non-partisan group, she then answered the questions. I thought this was interesting because she would most likely not have answered biased questions. Something else that I was excited about was that the voters knew how to answer the questions I asked and did not need a background to them. In Ward 21 I went to 4 different voting locations, Cook Wissahickon School, Andorra Branch Library, Houston Recreation Center, and Saul High School. I had the best experience at the Recreation Center because of the people that were also their outside of the polling office. They informed me and my group that there was an African-American male that was furiated with the Proposed Charter Change Question #3, which we decided was worded incorrectly and could be threatening when read by an African-American male but not threatening when someone from a differently ethnicity and/or background is reading it. There were only two people out of 24 would not stop and answer the questions which is a lot less than what I was expecting.

(Photo of the ballot taken at Cook Wissahickon School)

​I created a sign colored in the basic colors of the rainbow (roygbiv)  with the phrase "Hold On Pain Ends" leading across and down the square paper. The meaning of my piece is that even when times are hard and life seems stressful and hopeless, there is always hope around you somewhere. Then, when you dig deeper into the meaning of "hope," you find the idea/theme of the word (can be) hold on, pain ends, and that there is a light in your future, so don't give up. I included the rainbow background behind the phrase because in my opinion, rainbow's can represent opportunities and happiness that can appear in many forms, hence the multi colored patch. This ties together to show that hope is always around, and pops up in many different forms.

I am extremely into music, and I am always writing new song lyrics for myself. About a year ago, I decided to look up "life quotes" on google images to find inspiration for myself for a new song. That was when I came across a picture with the phrase "Hold On Pain Ends" and I immediately wrote it down because I thought it was genius! When Ms. Hertz explained to us what we were going to do for this mini project, I thought about the quote, and made the connection very suddenly to rainbows.

I chose to put my drawing/piece on the wall next to the door to the school store. I chose this location because I know that many students come by that area every day for the school store, as well as just to hang out, so I could be sure that my art would be seen by many.

I have realized that art doesn't have to be a drawing, it can be a phrase, or even a word, that has lots of meaning behind it.

There is much more art around Center City than I really realize.

Campaign Experience

On 4/26/16 I volunteered on election day helping out the Committee of Seventy  for my very first time. I worked with my partner JaVon all morning talking to people and helping them with things they were unsure of. We walked around to four different polling places and collected ballots and took pictures and asked people survey questions.The first polling place we met at was on 50th & Spruce where there were lots of people standing at. Being in involved with helping with the election was a bit overwhelming because we are teenagers and don’t really know much about this stuff. We were around a lot of experienced people and didn’t want them to think that we didn’t know what we were doing. We kept calm and continued to do what we were told to do so at the end of the day we were ok. Beside being overwhelmed I felt like I was being a big help to our community and to the candidates and that was a really great feeling. Most teen don’t get the opportunity to get to put on their resume that they volunteered for an election and that is a very big deal. Even though I wasn’t receiving anything it was still a pleasure to help.  I enjoyed working with my partner because we were very helpful to one another and asked each other questions we were unsure of when helping other people. The only thing we didn’t get a chance to do was take pictures with candidates because we didn’t see any out there. That was what I looked forward to the most but maybe next time. I would like to do this again some other day. The only questions I have based off of my experience today is how do I read the ballot and understand it?  My second question is how do you register to vote once you reach the age of 18? My last question is how do those people get involved with being in charge of each polling place? Do they volunteer or is it an actual paying job?

Pictures During Election Experience

The first picture we took at our first polling place on 50th and Spruce.

We collected our first ballot that we didn’t know how to read at all.

How far we thought we should stand from the polling place. We didn’t want to be so close.

Nombre: Makyle Wyche Banda: A Band

El/La Poeta: Mario Benedetti

Historia de su vida:

Mario Benedetti fue un escritor y poeta. Nació el 14 de septiembre de 1920 en Paso de los Toros, Uruguay. Más tarde se trasladó a Montevideo. Pronto después, el comenzó a perseguir la escritura. Su escritura comenzó con la poesía.

Mario Benedetti’s publicado por primera vez en libro de poesía fue “La víspera indeleble”. Después de comenzar con la poesía, él persiguió otros géneros de escritura. Los otros géneros fueron cuentos y novelas. Más tarde en su vida, él comenzó a escribir ensayos y juegos. Mario Benedetti viajado mucho, y su escritura reflejada en cada lugar que el fue. Después de estar en otros países, regresó a Uruguay en 1983. Mario Benedetti escritura continua, hasta su muerte en 2009.

Mis éxitos y logros:

Yo han tenido tiempos difíciles en mi vida y Yo han tenido el opuesto. En mis 16 años de vida, Yo tengo consumado muchas cosas. Un ejemplo es haciendo un curriculum vitae. Tener un currículum vitae es una parte importante de éxito. Aunque yo tengo logros, yo quiero tener más exitoso.

Yo quiero tener exitoso por unos motivos. Una razón es a hacer mi familia orgullosa. Mis padres trabajaron duro a criarme. Lograr éxito voluntad hacer mis padres feliz. Yo debo que a mis padres.

Un Poema de Mario Benedetti:

No lo creo todavía

estás llegando a mi lado

y la noche es un puñado

de estrellas y de alegría

palpo gusto escucho y veo

tu rostro tu paso largo

tus manos y sin embargo

todavía no lo creo

tu regreso tiene tanto

que ver contigo y conmigo

que por cábala lo digo

y por las dudas lo canto

nadie nunca te reemplaza

y las cosas más triviales

se vuelven fundamentales

porque estás llegando a casa

sin embargo todavía

dudo de esta buena suerte

porque el cielo de tenerte

me parece fantasía

pero venís y es seguro

y venís con tu mirada

y por eso tu llegada

hace mágico el futuro

y aunque no siempre he entendido

mis culpas y mis fracasos

en cambio sé que en tus brazos

el mundo tiene sentido

y si beso la osadía

y el misterio de tus labios

no habrá dudas ni resabios

te querré más

Todavía.

Pensamientos y temas en poesía:

Este poema puede relacionarse con muchas cosas diferentes. Podría ser sobre un amante o pareja. También podría ser sobre un miembro de la familia, aunque algunas líneas referencia romance. Este poema tiene unos temas. Un gran ejemplo es el amor.