Twenty-seven Oxford Hills Comprehensive High School students earned community service hours by volunteering to run a citizens’ survey on the issues surrounding elementary school construction during the Nov. 5 election. Pictured is the contingent working the Norway polls last Tuesday morning. From left: senior Adelaide Harthorne; senior Lidia Melanson; freshman Alice Abbott; and junior Tegan Hodgkin.

REGION — The Nov. 5 election did not just draw voters to the polls to carry out their civic duties.

Twenty-seven Oxford Hills Comprehensive High School students volunteered to solicit citizens to participate in a straw poll survey, collecting data to be used by the school district’s Elementary Construction Committee as it grapples with the challenges of whether to consolidate four communities into one central school or build a community school in West Paris.

The project was coordinated by OHCHS social studies teachers Tyler DeMoore Gonzales and Travis Palmer, who teaches a civics unit on elections.

“The teachers were pivotal in finding the students, organizing where the students would be going on Election Day, checking on students during the day, and communicating with me about the process,” Oxford Hills’ Superintendent Heather Manchester said.  “We had two meetings with the students where we explained what we were hoping to accomplish, getting input from them on the logistics of the day, and talking with them about the survey and the accompanying information so they could have knowledge about what is going on.”

Manchester, Travis and DeMoore Conzales plan to hold a post-mortem class discussion with the students to review the survey results and break down the events of the day.

Palmer told the Advertiser Democrat that OHCHS freshmen were partnered with students from his elections class and a few other upperclassmen. Each student earned community service hours for taking part in the survey solicitation.

In their own words, some of the students shared their perspectives of the project with the Advertiser Democrat.

Senior Lidia Melanson of Norway found it interesting that participants filling out surveys wanted to know what the kids’ opinions were, too. Others declined, saying they did not have the time or that they were not well enough informed on the elementary school issues to answer the questions.

She got an oral history lesson of sorts, learning the background of Oxford Hills elementary schools going back to when Maine School Administrative District 17 was formed.

“What stood out to me was how people viewed [having] the separate town elementary schools, I personally think that the consolidated elementary building positively impacts the community, hopefully making bus rides for students shorter and making the transition to middle school easier for a lot of students.

“But when I was talking to other people a lot of them brought up the point that years ago that there was an agreement that each of the towns would have their own individual elementary schools which I was not aware of. This made me realize why other people are not as excited to do the consolidated elementary school … Each town having their own makes our school system unique.”

Senior Abby Marcotte of Otisfield was already well versed in elections – she has accompanied her family during elections since she was in third grade. Still, she was impressed with how many voters participated in the presidential election.

“The voter turnout in my small town surpassed my expectations,” she said. “There wasn’t a moment to sit down as voters were cycling through the polls all day. People were interested in learning about what this project would entail, as well as the logistics.”

While some people who do not have children felt their input was not necessary, Marcotte worked to persuade them that as taxpayers their opinions – negative and positive – are important for the district to consider.

“It showed me the kindness of people in my small town of Otisfield, I didn’t get a single negative comment,” she said, adding that most people were excited to see her involvement with the survey project, in contrast to what some of her classmates observed in other towns.

Angelica Hart, a junior from South Paris, said a highlight of working outside the polls was engaging citizens about school district matters, and learning productive ways to approach them on touchy topics.

“I was able to find the best way to approach people who may be uneasy about those topics. With this I was able to have an educated conversation with people who normally wouldn’t want to hear the other side of it,” she said. “A part that I enjoyed most was educating the community on the building construction proposals.

“Before I didn’t think that being so young I could make an impact in the community in any way. Now I have learned how easy and accepting the community is to the younger generation and I would like to participate more in the community. It was delightful because the majority of people took the time … to listen and consider these issues.”

For Hebron senior Emily Sanborn, the most challenging part of running a survey table was maintaining enthusiasm while informing voters of the details surrounding school construction projects.

“I discovered how important it is to engage in your community,” she said.  “So many members of my community had no idea what was going on in the school district, even though it would directly affect them.” The issues are so great and vastly complex that it is not something we can ignore. I loved this experience and would do it a thousand times over.”

Ronan Brown, a Waterford senior, found it a challenge to articulate information to voters who have been unaware of school construction and the impact potential consolidation to his town’s elementary school.

“I enjoyed it a lot, there were many instances of odd interactions but no negative ones,” he said. “But the response was often positive, and it was interesting how it started communications between people in the community. Many people were overwhelmingly positive in their excitement to express their opinion.”