Hopkins Junior High Students Witness Caucuses

Like about 150 other people, Julia Laden and Danielle Fogelson showed up at on Tuesday night ready for the Republican caucus.

But Laden and Vogelson weren’t there to vote in the presidential preference poll or introduce resolutions. The two are ninth graders who attended the caucuses as part of an Honors Civics extra credit project.

“We’re just here to see what happens,” Laden explained, adding that she didn’t know what to expect beforehand.

Civics instructors ViAnne Hubbell, Sarah Sampson and Allegra Smisek offered the students the assignment after a parent leading a room at one of the caucuses mentioned that it would be great to have the students attend. The students attended one of the caucuses and kept a journal of what they saw happen.

The assignment was particularly relevant because the caucuses happened to coincide with the classes’ election unit.

“The main goal was just for them to witness democracy in action,” Smisek said. “I think politics seems so distant (to the students). The caucus is such a great experience because you see grassroots politics.”

The students’ experiences varied widely depending on what happened in the precinct they attended. One student had a one-on-one conversation with a state representative. Another saw an older man scold a representative for being too soft on the other party. And another student’s family made up the majority of the people who attended for that precinct.

In Laden’s and Fogelson’s room, the precinct chairman took a few minutes during a break in the action to answer questions from the handful of students there and explain more about the process.

“The project itself was fairly simple in nature, but it was just a great experience,” Smisek said.

Even though it was optional, the assignment was a resounding success. While Smisek expected five or 10 students to actually attend the caucuses, 19 of her 35 students wound up attending.

Although the 14- and 15-year-old students were too young to participate in the caucuses, the experience has them excited about joining in later—especially since they learned that the DFL allows those who are at least 16 years old to participate in caucus business.