Too Young To Vote, But Refusing To Be Silent

Some of them aren't old enough to vote, but student leaders in Montgomery County felt it was important that they have a voice in local elections.

So in the fall, they did what teenagers who have grown up in the shadow of the White House do when they want to make a difference in the political process: They formed the Montgomery County Student Government Political Action Committee.

The effort is being led in part by Ben Elkind, a senior at Richard Montgomery High School in Rockville. Politics is in his blood. At 17, he is the president of the Montgomery County Region Student Government Association. But he's quick to note that the PAC is separate from the student government association.

Now, this effort won't entail fancy fundraisers where shrimp cocktail is served on silver platters. Elkind and his peers have something else in mind.

"We're not going to be able to do [big fundraising], and I don't think that's our strong suit,'' he said. "But I think students are exceptionally great foot soldiers. We have a lot of energy and we can be the volunteers.''

About 170 students have weighed in on the Montgomery County school board race, which has a primary election Feb. 12 and general election in November.

The student government association did questionnaires and 30-minute follow-up interviews with all the candidates on issues including policies the candidates would like to see regarding the environment, race relations in schools and High School Assessment requirements.

The candidates they've endorsed include: Christopher S. Barclay, who was appointed to fill the Silver Spring area vacancy left by Valerie Ervin's election to the Montgomery County Council; Alies Muskin, a parent activist who is running for an at-large seat being vacated by Sharon W. Cox; and Laura Farthing Berthiaume, a Rockville lawyer, who is running against Stephen N. Abrams for the Rockville-Potomac seat.

Muskin is facing four opponents in the race for the at-large seat: Philip Kauffman, a government lawyer from Silver Spring; Tommy Le, an engineer and former teacher; Carey Apple, an aquatic-facility supervisor from Germantown; and Rob Seubert, a loan officer and former middle school science teacher from Silver Spring. Two candidates for the seat will be chosen in the primary.

Elkind said student voices are important because the school board needs to know what's happening inside of schools, and what better way to learn that than from students?

It would be wrong to write off today's teens as self-centered, text-messaging, iPod-obsessed adolescents, he said.

"We do care,'' he said. "And we want to be involved.''