An active citizenship is someone who makes a difference by benefiting our environment and helping people locally, nationally and globally.
Hornsey School for Girls provides its students with many opportunities to participate as an active citizen. Some examples of these activities are peer mentoring, mock elections, prefects and school council. I took part in the mock elections which were held earlier this year. This activity relates to active citizenship because voting is something that changes many things in our surroundings and it’s very important because it helps us gain new skills and knowledge.
Every person’s opinion has to be expressed and considered. This is why I wanted to contribute towards the mock elections. Elections are something really important for our community and future but many people do no realize it. By giving your vote you also take part in active citizenship because voting is a responsible and mature activity which builds up our country’s future.
However Hornsey students are still under age to vote, but mock elections prepare us for the future and help us to understand that each vote counts. In a while we will be the one voting and choosing the future of our society and country. The decrease in voting activity is a major problem around the world because many people do not realize the power they have and they do not vote. This is why I decided to get involved in the campaign in which I was part of – to learn how important and responsible elections are and why people should express their opinions so that they are heard and considered in a future.
My active role in campaigning for my party was to create posters with the party’s emblem and pictures of the candidate and its manifesto and policy. I also designed leaflets explaining what the party was about, and what it intends to do for people’s benefit. We put these posters and leaflets on the school walls so people was be able to see and read them so that the campaign had bigger impact on them . I helped student understand the importance of choosing this party and what the part wants to achieve(what its aims are).
I have realized how hard and stressful the whole process was to the candidates and this is why I helped them to write their speeches and gain more confidence by supporting them in their campaign.The other people in the campaign contributed to the activity by many other ways such as: informing people about our party’s aims and manifesto, writing speeches, supporting our candidate, make presentations about the party and what it intends to do to benefit our school environment and by helping designing good quality posters and badges so people are informed and show their support through badges they wear by making us more confident in our mission.Students became more interested in politics and they have understood the how big is the responsibility their vote carries. The activity helped all of us to influence decisions and views in our school and to realize that every vote is essential in an election and it is important to vote.
People in Hornsey now know that voting is important because it part of democracy and prevent dictatorship.The importance of participation in the activity changed my views about the importance of expressing your opinion and voting at all. Before taking part in the mock elections I was not acquaint with the campaign and its purpose. There are many advantages of participation but the main one is to learn how to be more confident and how to stand by your opinion and defend it.
The importance of campaigning taught me to support my party and my interests.I have developed many skills during my contribution in the activity including ICT skills, creativity, and confidence and to co-operate with people I am working with and respect their different opinions and views. I have gained presentation skills and I have learned how important the support can be in some tough situations. Everything I did was challenging my opinion.
Next time I will be more organised and I will plan my work better soothe results would be even better and I will also be more confident expressing my opinion even when it is different from the other people’s one.I have really enjoyed contributing in this activity and I will participate again next year. The things I have learned are useful and will help me the next time. In future I would take more important and challenging role in the campaign, I may even try to be one of the candidates.
I have learned so many things such as how to be supportive and how to co-operate and work in a team. The activity enriched my knowledge and now I have basic politic understanding that will be useful later on in my life, I have also became more confident and learn how to defeat my viewpoint by debating and arguing which is always useful in life because we all have to make sure our opinions are heard and considered because this is a respectful human right. This experience of active citizenship has been of great value for me and my future because I will continue to participate in activities such as mock elections and try to be more active citizenship in a future.
