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