Students will ask the questions at debate
As candidates for governor continue to talk about their plans to better serve Oklahoma schools and students, a few students have some questions of their own before Election Day.
Ten high school seniors from across Oklahoma are hosting a gubernatorial debate between Democrat Drew Edmondson and Republican Kevin Stitt on Oct. 11. The students came up with the questions, will moderate the debate and plan to vote.
“I’m not necessarily familiar with politics, but I want to be and this is a great way for me to learn,” said Madelyn Rops, an Edmond Memorial senior who turns 18 later this month.
“I will be able to vote, and I want to learn about our candidates for governor. Students can make a difference in an election if we show up.”
The election is Nov. 6 and will also include Libertarian Chris Powell on the ballot.
The debate will be held at Oklahoma City Community College, and students from across Oklahoma are able to reserve a spot in the audience at www.From NowOnOK.com.
Students are planning every aspect of the debate with some guidance from the nonprofit From Now On, launched recently by Rep. Jason Dunnington, D-Oklahoma City, and Sen. Adam Pugh, R-Edmond.
“Jason and I are very good friends, but we are pretty opposite politically,” Pugh said. “But I think it’s important for students to see that people who are so different politically can still find common ground and work together. Hopefully, we can turn more people on to politics, instead of turn them off, which is what happens most of the time.”
Only 11 percent of Oklahomans aged 18 to 24 voted in the last governor’s race, in 2014, according to From Now On.
Many of the students hosting next week’s debate also participated in the April teacher walkout, sometimes holding their own student rallies inside the state Capitol.
“We thought it was normal to have textbooks without covers, AP U.S. history books that stop at Ronald Reagan and do not include the Murrah bombing,” Choctaw student Jayke Flaggert said into a megaphone during a student rally at the walkout.
At the walkout rally, Flaggert encouraged his fellow students to get involved in the political process and now he wants to hear what the candidates have to say about the state’s public education system.
“We have to show students that it is just as important for us to be educated and prepared to vote,” said Flaggert, who will be one of three student moderators.
Flaggert said candidates will be asked 10 questions on a variety of topics, including education, medical marijuana and mass incarceration.
Flagger, 18, cast his first ballot in the June primary election, just two months after the teacher walkout.
“It was really cool to be so involved in the walkout and then see that my vote could make a difference,” Flaggert said. “Voting this year was a great moment, and I’m excited to do it again.”