"Have a cookie and a quote; It only matters if you vote!"

November 4, 2008

In the early evening of November 3, 2008, a group of children ranging in age from 6 to 12 stood outside the main building of the Meadville Lombard campus in Hyde Park, Illinois, chanting "have a cookie and a quote; it only matters if you vote."  The 10 children came to campus through Woodlawn Youth Solutions, a collaborative program between Christ Way M.B. Church of Woodlawn, The Brickyard Community Garden of Woodlawn, the University of Chicago's Civic Knowledge Project, and Meadville Lombard's Community Partnership Program. 

Students from Alper Residence Hall on the University of Chicago campus baked the sugar cookies and brought them to Meadville Lombard. The children, with the U of C students and Meadville Lombard faculty, staff and students, then decorated the cookies with white icing and red and blue sprinkles--reminding each other constantly to be sure to keep the cookies non-partisan.

As they decorated cookies, the group became engaged in conversation about the importance of voting, and talked about the mock election the children had held at school that day. Ashley Wiley, a sixth grader in the group, shared with Provost Sharon Welch (right) what she and the other students had been learning in school through the mock election process. Ashley talked about the ways people have been kept from voting in the past, giving examples of men with guns standing in front of the polling place. "It's like cheating," shouted one of the other children as Dr. Welch asked "what do you think of that?" 

After the cookies were decorated, the students went outside to offer the cookies and slips of papers with quotes about the importance of voting and being involved in civic life (such as John F. Kennedy's "Ask not what your country can do for you...) to the hurried Hyde Palk pedestrians. As the children chanted, they were invited to walk a block down the road where a campaign bus from the cable station CSPAN was parked.

The bus was one of two parked in the home cities of the two presidential candidates and is both a travelling studio and classroom. Students were given a tour of the bus and were videotaped with their cookies and chanting (we'll post a link to the video as soon as it is available, but the photos to the right and below show the children as they are being given a tour and being interviewed).

They then chanted their way back to Meadville Lombard, again urging others to do their civic duty. "It was a great event," said Dr. Sharon Welch, Provost and decorator of cookies. "What a fun way for us all to be with each other, talking about this historic election and the importance of being a part of the process." 

The event was spearheaded by Chris Stedman (with the kids, right), a first-year Master of Arts in Religion student at Meadville Lombard, who, in an email inviting the Meadville Lombard community to the event, described his objectives for this particular event. "The aim of this event is to create a space for the young people in our program to feel engaged in the election even though they're under 18 and allow for them to interact with people of voting age. A secondary goal of this activity is to facilitate the relationship between Meadville and our program through the Community Partnership Program, as well as Meadville's place in the greater Woodlawn community, and to provide an opportunity for the youth in the program to visit the University of Chicago and Meadville communities."

The Rev. Dr. Qiyamah Rahman, Director of Contextual Ministry at Meadville Lombard said the event demonstrates Meadville's efforts to connect with the larger community outside of academia. "To observe Chris in his "site," interacting with the youth, with his site supervisor, Dorothy Pytel, and to have Bart (Bart Schultz, Director of the Civic Knowledge Project) present as one of the three community partners, affirms to me that when we work collaboratively, everyone benefits," said Rev. Dr. Rahman. "Usually we are "modeling" and serving as role models for the younger people," she added. "Last night they were serving as role models for us and it was a good feeling to know that Meadville Lombard's efforts in some small way are making a difference in the world that they are growing up in."

"The Civic Knowledge Project is devoted to working to overcome the social, economic, and racial barriers among knowledge communities on Chicago's South Side," said Bart Schultz. "Our vision of civic knowledge involves fostering modes of civic friendship and participation that can improve the quality of our life together as a democratic community, and I can think of no better example of how to realize this vision than the Woodlawn Youth Solutions Project, which is bringing together people of all ages to build a beautiful and a sustainable future."

This is only one site project in the charter year of our Community Partnership Program, where first-year students spend 8 hours per week working in service organizations in the Woodlawn neighborhood of Chicago in conjunction with readings and a two-hour faculty-led seminar. The program's goals include helping our students gain an understanding of the complexities and possibilities of contemporary societal issues and to enhance multicultural competencies.

All photos by Brian Ashby.

Contact:
Tina Porter tporter@meadville.edu
(773) 256-3000 ext. 236