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    Students Demand Action volunteers smile and clap in the front row of an auditorium. They are wearing lanyards that read
    Volunteer Stories

    Thank You, Students: On International Volunteer Day 2024, We’re Honoring Your Action

    12.5.2024

      December 5 marks International Volunteer Day 2024. Today is a chance to celebrate the efforts of volunteers across communities, countries, and the world.

      Today, we acknowledge the tireless efforts of our Students Demand Action volunteers. Young people are too often told that they are “the future” of advocacy. But at Students Demand Action, we know that students are the now. And now, it’s our turn to uplift the efforts of young people who are unwavering in their commitment to fighting for change.

      We showed up this election cycle, with more students than ever before engaging in our elections work. Together, Students Demand Action and Moms Demand Action volunteers made over 12 million voter contacts this election cycle. Those phone calls, text messages, door knocks, postcards, and conversations were not in vain. 

      Every conversation students like you started, every event you hosted, and every person you reached spread the message that change is possible—one action at a time.

      Because when we come together, we can shift the narrative and drive real impact. And with more students participating in our elections work this year than ever before, we can see that impact now.

      High School Students

      High schoolers, many of whom were not yet old enough to vote themselves, encouraged their peers of eligible age to register to vote.

      A photo collage of Denver Students Demand Action volunteers at the Denver gun violence prevention summit. The students wear either white Students Demand Action shirts with red block lettering, or red t-shirts with white lettering. The bottom right of the photo has a red circular Students Demand Action logo with white block-lettering.

      In Denver, Colorado, Students Demand Action groups across the city challenged each other to see who could register the most students to vote. Students went to senior class homerooms, presenting about why and how to register.

      And while not part of their election work, the Denver SDA groups were also busy, holding a gun violence prevention summit with Colorado lawmakers in October. They discussed the state of gun violence prevention and what comes next in the fight to end gun violence.

      SDA groups in Virginia and Indiana also got in on the voter registration action. Liberty High School SDA in Virginia reminded their peers to Get Out the Vote ahead of Election Day. And Herron High School SDA in Indiana registered 10 members of their senior class to vote!

      Two students stand in front of whiteboard in a classroom that has a map of the world pinned onto it and "Friday's schedule" written in black marker. The students are holding a handmade yellow poster that says "Get Out and Vote!" in block letters.
      Two Students Demand Action volunteers stand in front of a red metal picnic table. The table has several tablets sitting on it to help students register to vote; several posters are propped on the table's bench seat that read "Our future. Our vote. Register to vote. Text Future to 644-33."

      High school students joined forces with Moms Demand Action volunteers to canvass in Burke and Fairfax, Virginia, and in Toledo, Ohio, as well. 

      A group of 15 total Moms Demand Action and Students Demand Action volunteers pose for a photo. In the front row, 8 students kneel; in the back row 7 adults stand.
      SDA canvassing in VA
      A group of nine total Moms Demand Action and Students Demand Action volunteers, who are canvassing, pose for a photo in a parking lot.
      SDA canvassing in OH
      A group of six Students Demand Action volunteers sit at a round table in a cafe. They are looking down at the table while writing on white postcards.
      SDA writing postcards in OH

      Students at Champaign Central High School SDA in Illinois canvassed to Get Out the Vote for Gun Sense Candidates. And Grosse Pointe North SDA attended a Harris-Walz rally in Detroit, Michigan.

      A group of three students take a selfie in .5 mode. They are wearing red Students Demand Action t-shirts. The student taking the photo has her arm extended; a black bracelet that says "end gun violence" is visible on her wrist.
      A student in a red t-shirt that says "Students Demand Action" poses for a photo in front of a crowd of people, who are gathered on the tarmac to greet Harris and Walz as they arrive to a rally. The sky is a gradient from orange near the horizon to blue near the top of the image frame and appears to be sunset. A plane is visible in the background; it says "United States of America" in all-capitals text.

      In South Carolina, the Governor’s School and Beaufort High School hosted multiple phonebanks with over 35 volunteers in attendance. The SDA group at Orlando Science School in Florida recruited students from neighboring Jacksonville High School and Winter Park High School to reach potential voters. And in Texas, Hillcrest High School held multiple phonebanks to support key elections in priority states. Hume Fogg High School and Crosstown High School in Tennessee also made calls to Get Out the Vote!

      In North Carolina, high school SDA students at Apex High School and NC School of Science and Math held multiple phonebanks. Together with their college counterparts at the University of North Carolina and North Carolina A&T (more on that later!), North Carolina students made over 10,000 voter contacts through phonebanks. These efforts helped secure a Gun Sense Governor and several key down-ballot wins across the state.

      In Virginia, students at John R. Lewis High School restarted their SDA group in late September. By their second meeting, those students were already writing Get Out the Vote postcards and canvassing for Gun Sense Candidates. And at their third meeting, they held their first phonebank! An SDA group in Riverdale Country Day School in New York also held two phonebanks just as they were also starting out as an official club. Way to hit the ground running!

      A group of around 10 students phonebank in a classroom. The students are sitting at desks and have their laptops open; they are holding their phones up to their ears. In the foreground of the photo, a laptop screen with the Hubdialer log-in screen is visible.

      College Students

      Our SDA college groups didn’t let midterm season get in the way of Getting Out the Vote. They juggled papers, exams, and extracurriculars with elections. And they aced it.

      Students at the University of Florida held multiple phonebanks leading up to Election Day, making calls to voters across the state.

      Five Students Demand Action volunteers at the University of Florida pose for a photo. They stand behind two light-colored wood tables with plastic orange and blue chairs. Each student is holding a cell phone up to their ear.

      The Georgetown University chapter of SDA spoke at the D.C. Moms Demand Action elections kick-off meeting. They reminded Moms Demand Action volunteers to include students in their voting efforts. And they even taught the volunteers what “Kamala IS brat” meant! 

      Two Students Demand Action volunteers present to a group of Moms Demand Action volunteers. The students stand on each side of a presentation screen. The slide includes 5 ways that Moms Demand Action volunteers can include Students in their elections work. The top right of the slide has a meme with a picture of Kamala Harris on a lime green background, captioned "kamala IS brat"

      SDA at Drake University in Iowa tabled on campus, handing out swag and motivating peers to vote. The University of Texas Austin took it a (literal) step further, going door-to-door in a “dorm storm” on campus to Get Out the Vote for Gun Sense Candidates.

      Three Students Demand Action volunteers at Drake University pose for a photo while tabling. They stand behind a table with a red tablecloth that has stickers, candy, and literature about Students Demand Action. One student wears a black t-shirt that says "end gun violence." Another holds a sign that reads "I'm a Gun Sense Voter."
      Four Students Demand Action volunteers at the University of Austin Texas celebrate being done with their first "dorm storm." They hold door-knob placards with literature about Students Demand Action printed on them. The top of the photo is captioned "dorm storm #1 done!" At the bottom right, @studentsdemand is tagged in white text.

      Students at Georgia State University and Michigan State University “vote tripled” at their polling location. They encouraged people who had already voted to text at least three peers to motivate them to vote too!

      A group of six Black students from Georgia State University pose for a photo while vote tripling at their polling location. They all wear red Students Demand Action shirts and are holding red palm-cards that say "Guns are the #1 killer of American youth"
      Two Students Demand Action volunteers take a selfie while tabling on their campus quad. One of them holds a hand-written sign that reads "Come get a ROOT BEER FLOAT!!"

      Throughout the election cycle, SDA at the University of Minnesota partnered with other groups on campus. They wanted to reach as many students—and voters—as possible! UMN hosted a bilingual phonebank with the Mi Gente Latinx Student Cultural Center. They ran through the script with students, taught them how to use the calling system, and then spent several hours making hundreds of dials to potential voters. UMN also partnered with four other groups on campus on election day to call and text voters, encouraging them to Get Out the Vote.

      A candid photograph of Students Demand Action and Mi Gente group members at the University of Minnesota. Students are sitting on teal, orange, and grey sofas while watching two Students Demand Action volunteers act out how to use a phonebanking script. Papel picados in shades of purple, orange, red, and green hang from the ceiling.
      A group of approximately 20 University of Minnesota students are pictured in a candid photograph. Papel picados in orange, pink, green, yellow, and blue shades hang from the ceiling. Students are sitting on couches and at tables, eating pizza and learning how to phonebank.
      A group of around 20 Students Demand Action and Mi Gente group members at the University of Minnesota pose for a group photo.

      HBCU Students

      Our SDA groups at historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) are in an election excellence category of their own. 

      The group at Florida A&M University hosted one of the largest voter contact events of any SDA group in the chapter. More than 40 students showed up to phonebank and canvass to Get Out the Vote for Gun Sense Candidates.

      A room full of Black students at Florida A&M University, an HBCU, sit in 6 tiered rows of long desks in a large classroom on campus. A seventh row of students stands behind the last row of desks.

      HBCU students in Atlanta, Georgia, made hundreds of voter contacts. At Morehouse College, 40 students phone banked for Gun Sense Candidates. Those callers included Alexandra, the daughter of Maryland U.S. Senator-elect Angela Alsobrooks, a student at the neighboring HBCU Spelman College. And at Clark Atlanta University, SDA members canvassed at their homecoming tailgate.

      A group of four Black students stand in a row and smile at the camera; they are holding new Students Demand Action red t-shirts that are in new plastic packaging. A projector screen and two whiteboards are visible in the background.
      A group of around 25 Black students smile for the camera in a group photo in what appears to be a classroom. The students are sitting at various oblong tables around the room. A projector screen and two whiteboards are visible in the background.
      A group of four Black students wearing red Students Demand Action t-shirts take a selfie together. Three of them hold cards reading "Guns are the #1 killer of American youth." The student taking the selfie is holding the phone with one hand and giving a thumbs-up with the other.

      SDA at Jackson State University was a constant force for change throughout the election cycle. They hosted an elections “meet and greet,” where they talked to peers about Students Demand Action and about their election plans. Students also held a “Politics on the Plaza” day to register voters. They even hosted a VP Debate watch party, where 36 new students joined their SDA chapter!

      Three Black students wearing white Students Demand Action t-shirts with red block lettering post for a photo in front of a QR code to register to vote while tabling on their campus plaza. A white woman in a red t-shirt and dark sunglasses is visible in the background on the far right of the photo.
      A group of three Black men hold Students Demand Action signs and pose for a photo on a campus quad. One sign reads "Our future. Our vote. Register to vote. Text "Future" to 644-33." The other two students hold signs that say "Students Demand Action." The photo has an Instagram handle tag @deltaphi1953.
      A group of 10 Black students pose for a photo in front of a blue projector screen displaying a slide titled "What We Do." The students are wearing white Students Demand Action t-shirts with a red block-text logo. One student in the back right of the group wears a red Students Demand Action t-shirt.
      A group of Black students walk toward the polls, holding navy and white signs that say "JSU Rocks Thee Vote." In the center of the photo, a Black student wearing a navy blue suit holds a red Students Demand Action sign and smiles at the camera.

      At America’s largest HBCU, North Carolina A&T, SDA worked hard throughout the cycle to get their peers excited about voting. And it worked! A record 6,487 people voted at Dudley Memorial Building on campus. Nearly 700 of that total turned out at NCA&T’s “votecoming”—a march to the polls where you’d better believe SDA had a presence. To quote our students: “Aggies do, never done.”

      Six Black women stand in a row holding new Students Demand Action red t-shirts; the shirts are in clear plastic packaging.
      A red Students Demand Action sign is in focus in the foreground. In the background, students stand in a half-circle in a green space on campus.

      These stories are just a slice of the extraordinary efforts of students nationwide who stepped up this cycle. From early mornings to late nights, students like you rose to meet each challenge with a clear focus on our shared mission.

      And your strength, even in the face of setbacks, is the heart of our movement.

      Thank you for your work building a future we can all believe in.

      We’re Ready To Keep Pushing Forward

      The journey doesn’t end here: We’re ready to keep pushing forward. 

      Join Students Demand Action and the thousands of students who are ready to continue taking action to build a future free from gun violence.

      The Latest

      Did you know?

      Guns are the #1 killer of 18-25 year olds.

      CDC, WONDER, Provisional Mortality Statistics, Multiple Cause of Death, 2023. Ages: 18–25.

      Last updated: 11.8.2024