Letter from the Montclair High School Dems

Dear Montclair Community,

Young people are known to have low voter turnout. By contrast, youth enthusiasm during the Black Lives Matter protests have been fantastic. This enthusiasm must translate to further political action (i.e. registering voters, phone banking, and voting). The reality is that as young people, we will inherit this world and all of the mistakes being made by those in power. Our club, Montclair High School Democrats, is the Montclair High School chapter of High School Democrats of America, a student-run political organization. Our goal is to take our future into our own hands and make sure that the issues that affect us are being addressed in our government. This past school year, we held two voter registration drives at the Montclair Farmers’ Market, organized bake sales, held Debate Watch Parties, phone banked, and organized a letter-writing campaign. We also created the Youth & Politics video series about the candidates for Montclair's municipal election, which can be found here. Most recently, we phone banked to demand police reform. In this political climate, it is important now more than ever to stay updated on current events and take action.

As high school students, we have seen why Democratic values are so important. School lockdown drills have taught us the urgent need for gun control. We will be inheriting a world devastated by climate change. Many MHS students face racial discrimination in our town. We are the next generation of this country, and we must use our voices to create positive change. That is what our club is all about. 

We will be using our social media as an outlet to inform people as to how they can get involved with the club, so please follow us on Instagram and join our Facebook group. We will be posting information on how to attend meetings in our Facebook group for any Montclair High School students who would like to participate. We are encouraging incoming freshmen to join our Facebook group because we will be providing opportunities for them to get involved over the summer. The broader Montclair community can get involved in phone banking, text banking, canvassing, and voter registration events in the lead up to the 2020 election. You can reach out to us via email at mhsnjdems@gmail.com. However you choose to get involved in politics, the most important thing is to be engaged and vote this November.

Sincerely,

Maggie Borgen, Miles Quarterman, Owen Duncan, and George Togman

Montclair High School Democrats Executive Board 2020-2021