GUILFORD COUNTY, N.C. — Election day is just a week away and Guilford County Schools is making sure its high school students get access to the polls.
The district transports students by bus to vote, register, or observe the voting process.
The district expressed that, 'Citizenship and civic literacy are part of the North Carolina Standard Course of Study. State law encourages local communities to register students to vote and to keep voter registration materials on hand for parents and others visiting public schools and other governmental institutions'.
News 2 visited the Washington Terrace Park polling site in High Point where one group of students cast their ballots.
Nearly 20 juniors and seniors from High Point Central took a field trip to the polling site for the November 8 election. It's an opportunity the poll supervisor at the site didn’t get to experience until he was in college.
"It's a very exciting time for these young people to be in this experience of voting and hopefully they will continue to do that for a lifetime," said Rodney Charles.
Charles has been a poll supervisor for eight years and spent six years volunteering at local sites.
He says the voting process can be overwhelming for young voters.
"We asked them for phone numbers and IDs, different types so they are learning you don’t have to necessarily have to have photo ID to register to vote. You just have to have something to identify that you live where you say you live. So, they’ve learned some things today about our voting process," said Charles.
The students voted alongside older residents like Lilly Foster. She was pleased to see the school district's efforts to transport students to polling sites.
"The best thing that you can do is start them as young as possible and let them know the importance of their vote. Let them know about the candidates and what the candidates stand for," said Foster.
While some students voted and others registered some are younger than 18 so they only observed.
"They could at least receive our voting stickers to promise me and guarantee they will be back next election and ready to go and vote," said Charles.
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Field trips for high school students in the district run through November 3.