In September, in close collaboration with our dedicated school administration, we developed a plan to equip Uni’s upperclassmen for their transition into society as engaged and active participants in democracy.

 It was crucial for every student to be able to participate, so we implemented 5Calls as one of our primary tools for progress, ensuring students could serve as political advocates regardless of their citizen status. 5Calls is an app that helps users call their Congressional representatives and features high-profile issues with corresponding messaging scripts.

To help upperclassmen explore different ways to engage, we decided against sticking to just calls; we also decided to teach them how to write impactful emails, and we instilled in them a strong understanding of why voting matters. Since our club members are passionate about a variety of different issues, we focused on personalized support, making sure each person could dive into the causes that meant the most to them. 

Ultimately, we aimed to create meaningful change in our school while equipping students with the tools and values to continue making a difference, long after our project concluded.

Overall, the Wildcat Initiative took its course across 10 months, 16 club meetings, 3 planning meetings with administration, 2 assembly presentations, 2 "Action Day"/Voter Engagement days, and many sweet treats to serve as incentives. 

The Wildcat Initiative focuses on long-term sustainability and looking towards the future. An essential aspect of the process was ensuring the continued presence of our school's SBLA club far beyond the graduations of the upperclassmen. 

To achieve this, we prioritized engaging underclassmen through voting pledges, guaranteeing the club remains active as our underclassmen step into new roles. Throughout our process, we successfully doubled our club membership and significantly enhanced schoolwide engagement in SBLA. Next year, we’ll have twice the team, which means we’ll be even better prepared to bring our future plans into fruition. This growth will help us take our club projects to the next level and continue building momentum for years to come.

Our civic initiative had a meaningful impact at our school by increasing awareness in the process of voting and encouraging students to become active participants in civic engagement. As part of our outreach efforts, we presented our initiative to over 600 upperclassmen during several class assemblies, allowing us to educate a large portion of our student body on the importance of voter preregistration. This provided them insight into easier ways to make their voices heard in our government. As a result of these efforts, we achieved over 150 registrations and registration pledges, demonstrating that our initiative moved beyond awareness and inspired students to take action. Although it was difficult at times to get students to take action, we stayed persistent and continued to spread our mission. 

In addition, our club members completed over 70 calls through the app 5 Calls to legislators, giving students direct experience with advocacy and showing them that their voices can influence issues that matter to them. Our biweekly meetings allowed members to share progress, collaborate, and stay engaged throughout the project, creating a stronger sense of commitment within the club.

Following the end of our project, we also hosted what has become an annual Mother's Day Event, which was highly successful in  increasing engagement and interest in our organization for next year. 

Beyond measurable results, we believe that our initiative helped create a stronger culture of civic awareness within our school. In conversations with friends and teachers we received feedback that states students never understood the process of preregistration and how simple it can be. By informing these students, we believe our efforts made a lasting impact for future civic participation among our student body.