With both political parties scrambling to lure young voters and public policy makers worried about political apathy among America's youth, Metro State has committed to helping Denver high school students discover their political voices.

The Student Voices Project, a program launched by the Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania, encourages teenagers to become more interested in politics by exposing them to local issues that can directly affect their lives. Offered in 10 locations nationwide, including Denver, Student Voices provides high school teachers with two curricular modules—"Student Voices in the Campaign" and "Student Voices in the Community"—designed to give students hands-on experience identifying and studying relevant issues and then presenting their concerns to local candidates and government officials.

Metro has received an $80,000 contract to house Denver's Student Voices Project in the Golda Meir Center for Political Leadership in the Political Science Department. Through the program, Denver high school students have had the opportunity to meet Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper, Denver Councilwoman Judy Montero, Parks Manager and Board of Education member James Mejia and DPS board member Kevin Patterson.

Veronica Sepsey, a 2002 journalism graduate of Metro, has recently come on board as the project manager for the program. Previously she served as the assistant project manager for Denver Student Voices and as the program manager for the National Civic League for the MetLife Foundation Ambassadors in Education Award. Sepsey will help expand the program in the Denver Public School district, training teachers in the Student Voices curriculum.

"The thing we provide for this program," explains Political Science Professor Norm Provizer, who is director of the Golda Meir Center, "is the academic component in terms of the civic engagement subject matter. This seemed like a good symbiotic project. And though the program is targeted to high school students, we are looking at ways to get Metro students involved (from a delivery standpoint)."

To learn more about the Student Voices Project go to

http://student-voices.org/