WAKE THE VOTE Wake Forest University
WHAT IS WAKE THE VOTE?
Twenty-two Wake Forest University undergraduate students are participating in #WaketheVote, an intensive, yearlong civic learning and democratic engagement program combining classroom and real-world experience.
ON THE TRAIL
From volunteering on the randomly assigned campaigns of presidential candidates to attending classes to planning community forums to organizing non-partisan voter registration efforts, the group will spend 2016 examining issues central to the presidential election.
REFLECTION
“I believe that experiencing this year’s election is the first step to building democracy that prepares the country for the future and bridging the partisan gap that currently divides our country.”
Ryan Wolfe ('18), along with other members of the Wake the Vote cohort are chronicling their experiences online, which is an essential part of the program.
#WAKETHEVOTE
Chronicling their experiences is an essential part of the program. Students are posting reflections on the Wake the Vote website. They are posting to social media using #WaketheVote and can be found on Twitter @WaketheVote.
ENGAGEMENT
At a time when polarization drives many Americans away from politics and voter turnout among 18 to 29-year-olds hovers around 20 percent, a Wake Forest University study shows that learning to talk about controversial issues while in college can inspire young adults to be more engaged citizens even 10 years later.
Students who participated regularly in deliberative discussions of public issues were more engaged in political activities – from reading newspapers to working on behalf of favored candidates – and more tolerant of diverse viewpoints a decade after graduation compared to a control group, according to the study by four Wake Forest professors.
FOR THE MEDIA
Wake Forest News
Office of Communications and External Relations
336.758.5237 | media@wfu.edu | news.wfu.edu | @WakeForestNews