About 15 high school students from the Mississippi School for Math and Science sat in a small auditorium on Mississippi University for Women’s campus Monday night without taking their eyes off guest speaker, Mississippi State University political science and public administration professor Brian Shoup, who spent nearly an hour and a half with their undivided attention. The topic: politics.
The students at MSMS held their own mock primary elections Monday, which Democratic candidate Bernie Sanders won overwhelmingly. The students’ elections came up while Shoup was talking, but his topic also ranged from political theories and processes to the history of political thought.
His energized way of speaking — he spoke passionately, bounced around and occasionally put on accents to illustrate his point — combined with occasional pop culture references — had the teens engaged. Several students lingered after the lecture, surrounding him in a semi-circle to ask questions and hear his opinion on topics that didn’t come up in the talk.
As Shoup spoke about everything from the philosophical beginnings of modern conservatism to the reasons behind the 1997 civil war in Fiji, the students asked and answered questions. Where they really showed their interest though was when Shoup talked about the national election. He talked about the changes the Republican Party is undergoing and predicted that Hillary Clinton would win the general election in November.
He also stressed the importance of getting involved in local politics.
“Do you want to know why you want to vote for your county coroner?” he asked the teens. “They determine if the cops killed you or if ‘he was running away’. Pay attention to that post. Especially in modern America.”
He encouraged the students to attend some Columbus City Council meetings and find out about elected officials at the state level.
Despite the somewhat small turnout, senior Shelbi Allen, president of the school’s Young Independents, and Julie Heintz, MSMS history teacher, both thought the event went well.
“Last year (when Shoup visited) we had more people, but I think this year the audience was more engaged,” Allen said after the talk.
Allen and Heintz believe Shoup’s talk was another way to teach students about civic responsibility and get them involved in current events.
The students seemed to like it to. Junior Savannah Wise liked that it was interactive and also appreciated that Shoup didn’t just explain how things work the way they do, but why.
“Seminars like this enable you to start questioning why,” said Wise. “And that’s really what the world needs.”
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