By Claire Pomer, Harwood Union correspondent
Harwood seventh graders hosted a successful candidate forum last week with Vermont House and Senate candidates answering student questions on stage in the Harwood auditorium before an enthusiastic audience.
The Thursday, October 17, event featured candidates running for the Vermont House of Representatives and the Vermont State Senate.
The seventh graders started planning the forum around six weeks ago, shortly after school started. They incorporated it into their civics unit, so their planning included learning about the three branches of government and doing research projects on the candidates and the duties of each branch of government. The students also had to watch 20 minutes of the presidential and vice-presidential debates held this fall to prepare themselves for the forum. Students signed up for several different roles during the debate, including emceeing (asking the candidates questions on stage), photographing, manning the bake sale, leading the candidates to their seats, and “herding people back into the auditorium after intermission.” The event was also livestreamed by Mad River Valley TV and broadcasted by WCAX.
During the forum candidates were asked questions about their qualifications to run for office, what they would do to decrease property taxes and how they would approach the recent issues surrounding school budgets, how they would tackle flooding and flood mitigation, and how they would improve the housing crisis. All questions were chosen, written, and asked by students.
Students said that participating in the political process was much more engaging and fun. “You can see it and how it feels,” one student said. “When I was up on stage, I found it way more entertaining than watching. There were a lot of different opinions on how to run Vermont, but they were all very similar.”
Running in the Washington-2 District (Waitsfield, Warren, Fayston, Moretown, and Duxbury) for the House of Representatives are Gene Bifano, John Burns, Dara Torre, and Candice White. Torre is an incumbent.
Running in the Washington-Chittenden District (Waterbury, Waterbury Center, Bolton, Huntington, and Buel’s Gore) for the House of Representatives are Tom Stevens, Theresa Wood, Jonathan Griffin, and James Haddad (who was not present). Stevens and Wood are incumbents.
Running in the Washington Senate District are Ann Cummings, Michael Deering II, Mike Doyle, Donald Koch, Andrew Perchlik, and Anne Watson. Cummings, Perchlik and Watson are incumbents.
