On Jan. 22, the newly formed Eureka High School chapter of Voters of Tomorrow held its inaugural meeting. Voters of Tomorrow is a youth-led nationwide organization founded to engage young people in issues such as women’s rights, racial justice, LGBTQIA+ equality and immigration reform while promoting youth voter participation. Voters of Tomorrow was founded by Santiago Mayer in 2017.

“The chapter formed after seeing the establishment of a local Turning Point USA (TPUSA) chapter at our school,” EHS Voters of Tomorrow President Josie Schmitt, 12, said.

For the club’s student founders, the motivation to form was driven by the contentious political climate. 

“We thought it was important to create a safe space because the person who formed TPUSA, Charlie Kirk, had a lot of hateful ideologies and feelings against marginalized groups,” Vice President Gabby Ely, 9, said.

The club’s primary purpose is to champion long-term advocacy. 

“It’s such an extremist group under Charlie Kirk and we want all people to be welcome at VoT,” Social Manager Nicole Li, 11, said.

Per the student handbook, all clubs are required to submit a formal application to the EHS Activities Director, Scott Allen. 

“The application must include the club’s mission statement, description of activities, planned Academic Lab meetings and signature of the faculty sponsor,” Allen said.

VoT officers appointed EHS orchestra teacher, Mary White, as the club sponsor. White agreed to lead the group after students identified a need for more diverse political representation on campus.

“We did a little bit of looking and found VoT, which I was happy to sponsor,” White said. “As a young person, nobody was really talking to us about voting. I didn’t vote until I was in my 40s for that reason, and I think that’s why my generation doesn’t participate as much as we should. I want people to be active in the political process, because when we aren’t active, we lose our voices.”

Similarly, Schmitt noted that the democratic system thrives when manifold political perspectives interact with one another.

“Diversity is great, and it’s a good thing to have different opinions, because that’s what democracy is,” Schmitt said.