February LAUNCH18 Events Foster High School Civic Engagement
As part of LAUNCH18, which helps first-time voters gain the knowledge and confidence to make their voices heard, we held voter registration rallies at the three schools participating in our 2025-2026 pilot project: Cedar Grove High School, Drew Charter School and Druid Hills High School.
These events were a follow-up to the rallies we held in October during the run up to last Fall’s Elections.
We have two Student Ambassadors at each school who helped plan and coordinate the rallies, encouraged their classmates to attend and walked them through what to expect when they step into the voting booth for the first time. A competitive Kahoot! focused on basic civics kept the event fun AND educational.
Students were encouraged to sign a Civic Engagement Pledge, signaling their commitment to becoming and staying actively engaged in their community and being a consistent voter in future elections.
Although most students registered online using the Secretary of State’s My Voter Page, JLMLF volunteers and our partners at VoteRiders were on hand to help students register and fill out registration forms, if necessary.
We are focusing on civic education, equipping first-time voters with the knowledge and tools they need to be active, informed, and responsible participants in our democracy. This included:
- Civics and Democracy: The essential roles and responsibilities of citizens, the functions of government, and how their voices can influence local and national issues.
- The Voting Process: Detailed preparation for voting—including how to meet voting requirements, and the etiquette and expectations at the polls—ensuring first-time voters are prepared and confident.
- Civic Awareness and Research: The importance of reviewing sample ballots, researching candidates and issues, and understanding how personal decisions impact broader outcomes.
- Active Advocacy and Community Leadership: We also encouraged students to extend their engagement beyond the classroom, making voting a family and community tradition, and talking with friends and relatives about the value of participation.
Rather than focusing only on the next election, we are building a long-term culture of informed civic engagement—empowering the next generation to lead with knowledge, responsibility, and a sense of collective possibility.
During their debrief, Student Ambassadors started making plans for how to engage their classmates in the Spring, in preparation for the April 20 deadline for registering to vote in the May primaries, Early Voting (April 17 to May 15) and the May 19 primary.
The John and Lillian Miles Lewis Foundation’s B.R.I.D.G.E. program is focused on supporting and encouraging the next generation of civic leaders by recruiting and training Civic Engagement Ambassadors, leveraging Project-based Learning and state-of-the-art curricula; promoting leadership development, organizing on-site voter registration events, fostering a student-led civic culture using the latest technology and data analytics.
As a nation, if we care for the Beloved Community, we must move our feet, our hands, our hearts, our resources to build and not tear down, to reconcile and not to divide, to love and not to hate.
