Many of you will recall the experiences I have had with Richard Greene, the Reynolds Representative on the Buncombe County Board of Education, back in June and August when I was working to add a student adviser onto the school board. In June, he said he would do research over the summer about the idea,…
On Oct. 23, 2006, the last day for Californians to register to vote on Nov. 7, 15-year-old Natasha Hull-Richter, of Orange County, attempted to file her voter registration form at the county Registrar of Voters. The registration form accurately showed that she was 15 and she informed both the clerk and supervisor. The clerk and…
On Thursday, July 20, I held a public forum and press conference in downtown Asheville. My goal in doing so was to show the Buncombe County Board of Education how many people actually support having a student adviser on the school board. Members from the media included WLOS-TV, 570 AM WWNC, and Mountain Xpress. All…
NYRA Vermont, one of NYRA’s most active chapters, held an event called “Know Your Rights Day” on May 16 at the Vermont Commons School in Burlington. The event attracted dozens of students, as well as members of the local press. “Know Your Rights Day” consisted of a series of workshops pertaining to youth and student…
Student representation is a concept the Buncombe County Board of Education does not seem to be able to grasp. Since February, I have written letters, delivered speeches and have called politicians at both the local and state levels of government about adding a nonvoting student adviser onto the local Board of Education. The student adviser…
Adam King, of Asheville, North Carolina, spoke to the Buncombe County Board of Education about adding a student advisor for the third time on Thursday, June 1, 2006. Joel Burgess, of the Asheville Citizen-Times, was there covering this story and other stories taking place that night. After King had to sit through a two-hour meeting,…
NYRA members, drawn largely from the Orange County and Berkeley chapters, attended the California Democratic Party’s annual convention from April 28-30. NYRA hoped that the California Democratic Party would embrace NYRA’s voting age position as part of its platform. Many party leaders were supportive, however the platform committee was directly hostile to lowering the voting…
On an unseasonably cold May afternoon, I left my internship a little early to meet some old acquaintances on the steps in front of New York City Hall. Another member of The National Youth Rights Association had heard about Lew Fidler’s bill to end the cell phone ban in New York City schools, and he…
I attended the Buncombe County Board of Education’s meeting on Thursday, May 4, 2006. I arrived at 6:00 p.m. for an interview with a cameraman from WLOS. He asked me questions concerning the night’s meeting, what I planned on saying, and I got the chance to clarify for once that I am not running for…
NYRA-Orange County is engaged in a campaign to get both political parties to support a lower voting age. They are starting with the California Democratic Party (CDP), where they have several contacts. As of April 6, the chapter was planning to attend the CDP’s convention in Sacramento in order to make lowering the voting age…
