Profiles in Collaboration: Wilmington Teams Up for the Vote!
By Nathalie Demers, Teen Services Librarian, Wilmington Memorial Library

1100, 437, 336, 75, and 70….SAT scores? Test grades? No, participation numbers for a series of teen events in Wilmington! The Wilmington Memorial Library and the Wilmington League of Women Voters (LWV) recently teamed up for an ambitious initiative to get young adults engaged in elections, voting, and the democratic process.

Teen Services Librarian Nathalie Demers says she was inspired to have an election-related program for teens when she read about New Hampshire students voting in a mock Presidential Primary last winter. Library Director, Christina Stewart, suggested that the library work with the local chapter of the League of Women Voters (LWV) on the project. A committee consisting of LWV members, middle and high school teachers and administrators, and the Teen Services Librarian began planning back in May 2004. The first order of business for the committee was to come up with a catchy and teen-friendly slogan for the project. A task that is much harder to accomplish than it sounds! So, they decided to get teen input. Nathalie Demers asked the teens on the library staff to help come up with a slogan. The result? Vote! It Does a Nation Good was the winning slogan, created by a 16-year-old library page. At the beginning of this school year Nathalie Demers sent a packet of information about the project to over fifty middle and high school teachers, administrators, and the superintendent. The purpose of the packet was not only to inform the recipients about the project but also to encourage them and their students to get involved.

The project got financial support from The Friends of the Library, The Wilmington Middle School PAC, The Wilmington High School PAC, The Wilmington League of Women Voters, and Citizens Bank of Wilmington. Here is a rundown of the individual events in the series:

• Voter Registration: This was an effort to get all 18-year-old students to register to vote. Fun and colorful handmade signs and posters were created and placed at the library and the high school and included blank voter registration cards. A box was handy for the teens to just drop their completed forms in. A LWV member and teacher checked the boxes weekly and delivered the forms to the Town Clerk.
• Book discussions: Once the Teen Services Librarian heard about a local author's new young adult novel, Vote for Larry (sequel to The Gospel According to Larry), it became imperative to find a way to get Ms. Tashjian to visit the Wilmington library. Vote for Larry, about a 17-year-old Massachusetts boy who runs for President in 2004, was a perfect tie-in to the Vote! It Does a Nation Good project. Now to get as many teens as possible to read Ms. Tashjian's books! There is not one but two monthly teen book discussions at the Wilmington Memorial Library and teens usually select the books they discuss each month. In August both groups agreed to discuss Ms. Tashjian's Larry books at their September meetings. Some middle school faculty also offered extra credit to students who read the Larry books and attended the discussions at the library. But best of all was a high school English teacher who assigned both Larry books to two of her classes (this teacher also offered extra credit for her students to attend the discussions and author visit). The library utilized MVLC (Merrimack Valley Library Consortium) funds to create a book club kit for both Larry books, making it easier for entire classes to read them The middle and high school media specialist also secured funding to purchase multiple copies of each book for their collections. The discussions were well attended and lively; they attracted 15 and 11 teens respectively. The library served foods mentioned in the Larry books (Doritos, M&Ms, Coke) and played a soundtrack of music mentioned in the books (U2, Beck, Joni Mitchell, Bob Dylan, and more). The Teen Services Librarian also visited a special needs classroom at the high school to discuss the Larry books (their teacher had also assigned the books to her students).
• Meet the Author - Janet Tashjian: 75 teens, teachers, and some parents came to meet Ms. Tashjian at the library. Library staff and LWV members decorated the room with large banners of the slogan, mural replicas of the author's new novel, articles about teens and voting, and Post-it notes of quotes from the author's Larry books (why Post-it notes? Read the books to find out!). The committee prepared and served a free dinner of foods mentioned in the Larry books (lasagna, pizza, baked beans, lemonade, coffee, birthday cake). And the Larry books soundtrack was playing nice and loud! The author's presentation was wonderful and casual. Ms. Tashjian related well with the teens and answered all of their questions. She also signed autographs. (A Barnes and Noble representative was on hand to sell copies of Ms. Tashjian's books). The local cable access channel also sent a camera person to film the event. Perhaps the highlight of the evening was raffling off the door prize: a Bloomingdale's (why Bloomingdale's? Must read the books!) bag filled with items mentioned in the Larry books (books, CDs, food, tarot cards, a Ganesh statue, and a wizard hat).
• Writing and Art Contests: These contests, open to all middle and high school students, allowed teens to write (essay, poem, stump speech) or create a piece of art (e.g. bumper sticker, poster, button) related to voting, elections, or the democratic process. The response to these contests was overwhelming, especially with middle school students. Faculty at both the middle and high school encouraged or assigned this contest to their students. Judges consisted of library staff, Friends members, LWV members, family of library staff, and teens. 437 teens entered the writing contest and 336 entered the art contest. Selecting finalists was not easy. Prizes for the contest included t-shirts with either the slogan on them or the winning artwork, gift cards to A.C. Moore or Barnes and Noble, and award certificates. Finalists were honored at the Election Party (see below).
• Mock Election: The LWV coordinated with the administration and faculty of the middle and high school to participate in the National Student-Parent Mock Election (held on Oct. 28). The middle school's involvement in this event took on a life of its own: the students were required to "register to vote" in order to vote in the Mock Election! They registered by their homerooms and a couple of students went to the 'polls' on October 28th and found that their names were not on the list, hence they were denied the vote. A couple of high school students wrote in their own candidates, Ross Perot and Terry Francona! Over 1100 students voted in the Mock Election…it was a close one but John Kerry came out on top.
• Post Election Party: 70 teens, parents, and teachers attended this party. Objectives of this food and music-filled gala were to honor the winners of the Writing and Art Contests, to announce the Mock Election winner, and to watch early live results of the real election on TV. Massachusetts State Representative Jim Miceli announced the results of the Mock Election and spoke to the teens about his own life in public service. Door prizes included patriotic pens, bubbles, and bracelets.

This project was all consuming but a huge success and very gratifying. It involved many different groups in Wilmington and brought in new teen faces into the library. Without a doubt, new relationships have been forged between the Wilmington Memorial Library and the Middle and High School PACs, the Wilmington League of Women Voters, and countless teachers and teens.

Epilogue: Not only is the Teen Services Librarian planning to repeat this series of events again in four years but hopes to also get teens involved in the April 2005 Town Meeting vote for a new library building.