1st Place - Elementary Division
Ralph Downs Elementary
Gifted Programming #67
Oklahoma City, OK
The Many Faces of Oklahoma Voters
We are the second, third, fourth, and fifth grade students from the Gifted and Talented classes at Ralph Downs Elementary in Putnam City Schools. This is our fifth year of participation in this contest. We are honored to represent in collage form what Oklahoma politics means to us.
This year's collage shows images of the variety of cultures that make up Oklahoma voters. It shows that people from all cultures have the privilege to vote in Oklahoma elections if they are citizens, have registered, and have reached the age of eighteen.
We decided on this design after many discussions from our study on how Oklahoma elections work, and who the people in Oklahoma are who are eligible to vote. We learned about how people from all cultures have settled in Oklahoma, and they make up Oklahoma voters.
We had a guest from the Oklahoma Election Board visit our classes several times to explain how an election in Oklahoma works. Each of us was given the opportunity to vote on a real voting machine like those used in Oklahoma elections. At the same time, we studied about how immigrants came to Oklahoma from many different parts of the world. We learned about how immigrants can become citizens and vote in Oklahoma elections. These things helped us to develop the idea for the design of our collage of citizens from different cultures at the polling place waiting to cast their votes. As we learned, we created our own quotes that shared our thoughts about voting on the collage board.
While we created our collage, we realized how much we had learned about the responsibility of voting. We found out "What a privilege it is to vote and that it is an honor to be able to express our opinions on politics." We wrote and talked about "What a great opportunity it is for people to know what we think." We said, "Every vote counts, and we can let politicians know what we think by voting. Our votes help make the right choices for the people and our state."
We began to realize that "We should be happy about people voting. Voting gives us a chance to change our community and our land. All citizens should be encouraged to vote."
As we talked and learned about the many cultures that make up our state, we learned how "Many Oklahomans aren't just English in background." "There are many cultures and religions that come from all over the world in Oklahoma, as well as Native Americans who were here in the first place." "It doesn't matter what race, language spoken, or religion worshiped. Everyone should vote so they can speak out about their thoughts" "People should have a say in decisions about our community and state. "Voting is a great responsibility and everyone needs to take it seriously." "Voters must be independent in their thinking about what changes they want to see happen."
This year's collage was a big task, but we learned a lot about the responsibility of being citizens while we were working on it.
(This essay was a collective effort written from summaries and verbal comments by the students in all gifted classes about the process of this project.)
Marie Harris, Teacher
Gifted Programming
#67
Ralph Downs Elementary
Putnam City Schools
Oklahoma City, OK
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