Although many MVHS students are not eligible to vote yet, government teacher Hilary Barron hands out election ballots to her students as practice. Pages and pages of questions. Although the students votes may not have counted towards the real election, the students left with a valuable lesson.

“I’ve learned that it takes a lot of work to be educated instead of just, ‘Oh, that person’s name sounds nice,’” Barron said. “[Voting is] something that you should take seriously and give it your best shot to make a difference… I feel like that’s our responsibility as members of a democratic society to be able to do that.”

With the 2016 United States presidential election and several other elections coming up, MVHS seniors prepare to cast the ballot for the first time. Hover over the Thinglink below to see what advice returning voters have for these prospective voters.

Photos by Vijeet Chaugule and Avni Prasad
Additional Reporting by Vijeet Chaugule, Aditya Krishnan and Avni Prasad