DenverEastHighSchool:

PostcardCampaignData

HighSchoolDemocratsofAmerica:DenverEastHighSchool
cohsdems@gmail.com
ReportCompiledbyWilliamAllstetter
 Findings From Postcard Campaign to Colorado Senators
High School Democrats of America: Denver East High School
Overview
High school often prompts political
involvement and civic mindedness in young
adults. It is a time when students begin to
splinter off from their parents and form their
own political ideologies. With 2016 being an
election year, students political development
have been especially prevalent and dramatic.
We believe that students have valuable
opinions that should be voiced. Our current
system denies high schoolers a voice through
traditional methods, namely their inability to
vote. So, in order to give students a more
effective means to communicate their
concerns, we (High School Democrats of
America: Denver East High School) launched
a campaign to encourage students to write to
their national Senators: Cory Gardner and
Michael Bennet.
Procedure
After discussing the broader goals
surrounding the implementation of Easts
postcard campaign, the clubs leaders (with
input welcome from its members) formed a
more concrete plan. It was decided that the
most effective strategy to elicit a robust
response would include teacher participation
and take place in a classroom environment. A
rough plan was developed. Most importantly,
we decided that the campaign must be
non-partisan, so we could hear the students
authentic voices opinions. First, we gauged
interest by emailing the Social Studies and
English departments to ask teachers for their
participation. After receiving replies from
teachers, we were able to estimate, design,
and print the correct number of postcards.
Our final design is pictured below:
The number of postcards distributed to the
teachers was based on their class size. After
leaving the cards in the teachers care for a
couple weeks and sending intermittent
reminders, we had picked up all the cards by
April 7th. The cards were then sorted and
categorized in an effort to make the data
more useful and manageable.
Results
In the end, we collected 615 cards from East
students, 288 were addressed to Senator
Bennet, 245 to Senator Gardner, and 82 were
addressed to neither. When looking at these
findings, we must remember that East is
predominantly liberal. But nonetheless, as an
especially diverse school, East students
perspectives provide a valuable insight to the
wide range of concerns facing Denver high
schoolers.
Data (Issue vs. number of times mentioned)*
Pro-Choice 169
Education Reform (See expanded table) 94
Pro-Immigration (Relaxed standards) 92
Environmental Protection 77
LGBTQ+ Rights 25
Gun Control 24
Dissatisfied (General) 23
Racial Tension/Discrimination 17
Satisfied (General) 15
Pro-Life 14
Healthcare Access (Pro-Affordable Care Act) 13
Gender Inequality 9
Internet Privacy Concerns 8
Anti-Breed Specific Legislation 6
Anti-Immigration (Stricter standards) 6
Homelessness in Denver 6
Aid to Syria 5
Requests for National Unity 5
Anti-Trump 5
Affordable Housing/Anti-Gentrification 4
Corruption/Misrepresentation of Politicians 4
Anti-Gorsuch 3
Prison Reform 3
Poor Infrastructure 4
Poor Arts Funding 2
Child Abuse 2
Gun Rights 2
Misrepresentation of Republican Party 2
Pro-Gorsuch 2
Pro-Trump 2
Denver as a Food Desert 2
Anti-Marijuana 2
Anti-Corporation 1

*If a postcard mentioned multiple topics, it was tallied in all applicable categories.
Anti-Hate Groups 1
Pro-Marijuana 1
RTD Schedules Inconvenient 1
State Department Funding 1
Water Quality 1
National Security 1
Improvement of Special Needs Classes 1
Anti-Postcard Campaign 1
Pro-Israel 1
Job Loss 1
Anti-Dakota Access Pipeline 1
Unusable 8

Expanded Education Table

Education reform was mentioned frequently. In the overall table, it was condensed into a single
section. More detailed information was also tracked:
Cost of College Concerns 22
General 15
Anti-Charter 12
Anti-Devos 11
Under-Funded 12
Anti-Standardized Tests 8
Inadequate Teacher Wages 6
Too Much Time Spent in School 4
Inadequate Mental Health Support in
Schools 3
Anti-Common Core 3
Anti-Dress Codes 2
Poor Cafeteria Food 2
Low Diversity in Schools 2
Denied Education for Immigrants 1
ECE Improvement 1