The HSDA
Updated: Dec 14, 2020
Throughout this election year, many people believed it was imperative to use their voices to ensure that their opinions were heard. Sophomore, Sarah Burns, took action and used her voice to a new club at Mishawaka High School. Earlier this school year, with her friend and fellow sophomore, Ava Raker, Burns organized The High School Democrats of America (the HSDA.) The young women recently offered insight to their club.
“The HSDA is a nationwide, student-led organization that features politically-based volunteering,” Burns informed, “it is a great entry point for students interested in engaging and learning about politics.”
Burns shared the inspiration for her action, “I remember being really disturbed by George Floyd’s death and I hated that I couldn’t really do anything to help the country pull together. I figured that if I couldn’t do anything on the national level, I might be able to do something at my school. I talked to Ava about this idea and we did some research. We came across HSDA pretty quickly, and we decided it would be a good fit for a club at our school because of the simple guidelines and community-based volunteering.”
“Ava and I have big dreams for this club. This year, we’re really just trying to get the club through COVID. We’re lucky because Ava and I are both sophomores, so we have time to put in place our many ideas. In the future, we would love to have speakers such as politicians and volunteers in our community. We want a stable club that meets regularly, volunteers together, and has group discussions. We would love to see our number of members rise, but we are grateful for the amount of interest we are already getting from students,” Burns explained the future intentions and hopes for The HSDA.
Raker continued, “Many kids feel powerless, especially with what’s going on in the world and politics. Our club is trying to change that and gives kids an easier way to gain that power back and hopefully change our community all while educating ourselves.”
The club is sponsored by Ms. Shelley Yoder in room 127, and is open to any student interested. Presently, they meet on Wednesdays from 3:15 - 4:15. Official schedules will be coming soon, and meetings can be attended virtually. To find out more about The HSDA, you can reach out to Sarah Burns at (574) 400-9620 , or Ava Raker at (574) 303-8330 . You can also join the club's Remind: hsda2020 .