{"id":76011,"date":"2019-02-07T15:43:51","date_gmt":"2019-02-07T21:43:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/?p=76011"},"modified":"2019-02-15T14:29:24","modified_gmt":"2019-02-15T20:29:24","slug":"paul-vallas-shines-at-student-led-mayoral-forum","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/paul-vallas-shines-at-student-led-mayoral-forum\/","title":{"rendered":"Paul Vallas shines at student-led mayoral forum"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>By Nora Mabie<\/strong><br \/>\n<em>Medill Reports<\/em><\/p>\n<p class=\"dropcap\">Junior Sandra Garcia stands outside the Carl Schurz High School auditorium with a big Ziploc bag filled with red and blue buttons.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAre you 18?\u201d she asks students as they enter the auditorium. If she gets a yes, Garcia hands them a button, labeled \u201cVOTER\u201d in big block letters. If no \u2013 no button.<\/p>\n<p>Garcia is one of about 30 students on Carl Schurz\u2019s student council who helped plan the student-led Mayoral Forum on Monday. With roughly 300 Schurz students registered to vote, interest in a candidate forum was high.<\/p>\n<p><!--more-->\u201cI think it\u2019s important for people to be informed and educated,\u201d Garcia said. \u201cThis way, when people do turn 18 and can vote, they will know how to get information.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The student council of the North Side school hosted the Mayoral Forum in partnership with Kids For Candidates, a nonprofit that empowers students to practice compassion and advocacy through political awareness.<\/p>\n<p>Although all mayoral candidates were invited to participate, only three \u2013 Bob Fioretti, Paul Vallas and Willie Wilson \u2013 attended. The student council asked students to submit potential questions for the candidates, and the questions the council ultimately chose focused issues ranging from animal cruelty and tax increases to violence in schools and immigrant protection.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;How do you plan to address and prevent gun violence?&#8221; one chosen question read.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;There&#8217;s so substitute for economic opportunity&#8221; to reduce violence, Vallas answered.<\/p>\n<p>The forum provided a unique opportunity for students to engage in city politics.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m not familiar with political topics like this, and my family doesn\u2019t talk about it much,\u201d said Jim Shen, a junior at Schurz high school. \u201cSo it was great that the school provided this (forum) as an opportunity.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Although the candidates held similar stances on most issues, such as protecting immigrants and curbing violence, many students left the forum expressing support for Vallas, who emphasized community and economic development in his responses.<\/p>\n<p>High school students joined other students to attend the forum. \u201cI liked the guy who sat right here,\u201d said Peighton Barrett, a sixth grade student at Hiram H. Belding Elementary School, pointing to Vallas\u2019 chair. \u201c(Vallas) used a way of talking that was easiest for me to picture things \u2013 it was easy for me to listen to him.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Vallas is the former CEO of Chicago Public Schools, including Schurz High School. Fioretti is the former 2nd Ward Alderman and former 2nd Ward Democratic Committeeman. Wilson is the current Chairman of the Trustee Board of Chicago Baptist Institute, and he previously ran for mayor in 2015.<\/p>\n<p>Student Council President Alex Carrasco wished that candidates had given better answers. \u201cThey danced around a lot of our questions,\u201d he said. \u201cI liked Vallas the most because he gave real and passionate answers.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>For example, when Carrasco asked the candidates how they would eliminate violence in schools, Vallas outlined a three-part plan, which would allow juniors and seniors to enroll in college courses early, implement a work-study program so students can gain valuable experience while earning money and restore public school patrol, where officers are trained to interact with students and students have access to a 24-hour hotline to express their concerns.<\/p>\n<div class=\"featurecaption\">Photo at top: Schurz Student Council President Alex Carrasco and student council member Ashley Quillo helped organize the Mayoral, Forum at the high school. (By Nora\u00a0Mabie\/Medill)<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Nora Mabie Medill Reports Junior Sandra Garcia stands outside the Carl Schurz High School auditorium with a big Ziploc bag filled with red and blue buttons. \u201cAre you 18?\u201d she asks students as they enter the auditorium. If she gets a yes, Garcia hands them a button, labeled \u201cVOTER\u201d in big block letters. If [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":544,"featured_media":76040,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28,2951,30,4559],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-76011","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general-interest","category-politicsnational-security","category-public-affairs","category-winter-2019"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Paul Vallas shines at student-led mayoral forum - Medill Reports Chicago<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/paul-vallas-shines-at-student-led-mayoral-forum\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Paul Vallas shines at student-led mayoral forum - Medill Reports Chicago\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Nora Mabie Medill Reports Junior Sandra Garcia stands outside the Carl Schurz High School auditorium with a big Ziploc bag filled with red and blue buttons. \u201cAre you 18?\u201d she asks students as they enter the auditorium. If she gets a yes, Garcia hands them a button, labeled \u201cVOTER\u201d in big block letters. 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