Students Yena Oh, Blessing Jee, Kathryn Hart and Julie Kim write about one of their service projects for this campaign: a voter registration drive!

Each individual, including the Model United Nations students, took several voter registration forms and went out to get people, anyone including high school students, to register. It was a very simple project; our sole purpose in what we did was to make sure as many people as possible registered. We also took down their email information and explained to them the importance of the citizens in regards to immigration reform. Thus, when the time came, we encouraged them to vote as they chose but, hopefully, more enlightened about the different candidates’ position on migrants and considering migrant rights as a reason to vote in the 2012 elections.

How is your project relevant to this season’s Global Debates topic?

Again, by giving the citizens the power to vote, we are also giving them the power to show their support of migrant workers. Also, some citizens were once immigrants, including Barbara Boxer, California Democratic Senator. Therefore, I think that there really will a huge impact if we give those who originally weren’t planning on voting the power to vote and also informing them about the situation with migrant workers and giving them an idea of what they can do. Hopefully, when we email these individuals as a follow up to our community service, we can give them a list of candidates who supports the UN Convention and they will consider voting for these individuals because of it.

What impact did this project have on your community, the people you helped, or the organizations you partnered with?

I think it impacted many people because it gave people a voice; it showed many people, especially eligible high school students, that they can vote and express how they feel as a community. I think it really did empower them to take some sort of action, even if that action is as simple as voting, when it comes to immigration rights. Although it may not be the sole reason why one votes for a candidate, it can definitely be a reason.

What impact did this project have on your team?

Our entire team was pushed to research different elected leaders across the nation to see their policies on migration. We felt much more informed and also more empowered knowing that what we were doing really was going to make an impact in at least giving so many people a voice, especially young people who typically don’t tend to vote. It was the power of the young people that got Obama elected, after all.

Because we did get the individual’s contact information, during the next election season, we plan on emailing all the people we registered with a reminder to go out and vote and also give them a list of candidates who does support ratification of the UN Convention or at least protecting the rights of migrants.