Fair Street students wrap up voting project...

Fair Street Elementary School's 98 third-graders have learned about the value of voting.

As part of a community service project, the students have researched and produced and are now distributing posters that detail in Spanish and English the voting process.

The poster shows key election dates, including registration deadlines; voter qualifications; and a drawing of the Hall County Registrar's Office at 275 Dawsonville Highway, along with a phone number.

It also gives three reasons to vote. "It is fair!" "It is an important right!" "It is an important responsibility!"

Students Ivan Salcido, Shanteria Buffington, Aaron Cheatham and Griscelda Hernandez, along with principal Merrianne Dyer and teacher Jennifer Nish, presented the posters headlined "Every Vote Counts!!!" to Gainesville City Council last week.

"This is fantastic," said Mayor Mark Musselwhite, who urged the students to remind their family members about the voting dates. "Make sure they are registered to vote."

Councilwoman Ruth Bruner said, "I hope that when you grow up, you'll be very involved and vote every chance you get."

Councilman George Wangemann told the group that the political process "begins at the voting booth."

"You're doing a very important service for everybody," he said. "Everybody should care about what government can or can't do for them."

Fair Street is doing the project as part of a $25,000 grant it received from Project Learn and Serve, a division of the Georgia Department of Education, to participate in activities linked to the International Baccalaureate, or IB, program.

The International Baccalaureate Organization was founded in 1968 as a nonprofit educational foundation in Geneva. Its original purpose was to enable college-bound students to have "international mobility" by providing schools with a curriculum and diploma recognized by universities around the world.

Dyer said the school plans to do a project at every grade level, with each project involving an outside agency or group.

Second-graders are up next. They are working with Georgia Power Co. on producing bookmarks that show ways children can save energy.

The third-graders, divided among four classes, began the voting project in early February, completing the poster later in the month, Nish said.

"We worked very hard for this," said Shanteria, "and we learned a lot."

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