Millikan Middle School Students Cast Their Vote

About 97 percent of the 2,200 students at Millikan Middle School in Sherman Oaks cast their votes, even though most of them won’t be able to vote for real until next presidential election.

“This gives them a sense of being involved in the election,” said 6th grade civics teacher Chris McLemore. “We try to get them involved in the process, and see what the outcome is.”

Not everyone registered properly in their history class, so not all of them got to vote. However, a majority seemed to be voting for Obama, and voters could have their picture taken with lifesized figures of each candidate.

The 10 a.m. tally had Romney with 67 votes and Obama with 339.

Eighth grade class president Jennifer Ramos said, “We respect everyone’s opinion and their choices.” She said she watched all of the debates and the vice presidential debate and enjoyed them all. “Both contenders have a lot to say and have good policies for our country,” she said.

The students ran the voting booths and counted the ballots, then they tallied the results hourly.

Teachers Jodi Huff and Erin Tanguay created the Civics Academy in the school 12 years ago—the only academy of its kind in the district.

“This is the third time we are doing it for a presidential campaign, and our third time to go to the inauguration,” said Tanguay. Students from their academy have gone on to study law in Princeton, Stanford and University of California, Berkeley.

The academy is continuing to fundraise to send the students to witness the presidential inauguration in January. Click here for more information.