22 You grew up in Santa Rosa, Calif., in a one-parent home. What was the voting situation like when you were growing up? Did your talk politics at home? Where does your love for politics come from? My earliest political memory was watching the Reagan and Mondale election returns at my grandmother’s house. And I remember going to the polls with my mom but sitting in the car. I would always ask her who she voted for and she wouldn’t tell me. But really, my interest in politics started in student government in high school, where I was student body treasurer my senior year. More importantly, my interest in political science was the result of a wonderful professor, Jane Leftwich Curry, at Santa Clara University. I was a combined science major, with a natural science emphasis, and I took her introduction to comparative politics course and loved it — and she encouraged me to pursue it. My love of American politics grew out of an initial interest in Russian politics but after a trip alone to Russia in 1998, I decided I didn’t want to travel alone for fieldwork and would rather focus on American politics. Given that you didn’t have as much of an interest in politics until high school, how important do you think it is to discuss politics at an early age? Politics is definitely something that needs to be discussed early — and the same is true about voting. Most kids develop a sense of partisanship in elementary school; the attachment strengthens as kids mature and learn more about the political process. And since voting is habitual, it is important to teach kids the importance of voting even before they are 18. This year in my Elections 2012 class, we are working with Sangre Ridge Elementary School to develop a mock election for students and parents on the day before the election. The message we want to convey is that voting is a civic duty, and it is important to exercise your right to vote. If the projects works and generates interest, I hope we can do something similar districtwide in the next election cycle. This gives my college students a chance to become involved in the community as well, which is a great service we can provide and hopefully one with many positive benefits for the elementary school, my class and OSU. gary lawson / University Marketing Jeanette Morehouse Mendez lectures her class on the 2012 president ial elect ion.
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