'Our future matters': Calgary students embrace voting simulation

Students at some Calgary schools got a sense of what democracy feels like with a voting simulation this week.

Prabhnoor Gill is a student at Peter Lougheed School in the city's northeast. She handed out ballets, crossed off names, and even voted herself.

"It teaches us how we are going to vote in the future," Gill said of the experience.

"I would choose NDP," she blurted out, without being prompted.

"Because they think about a better future for the children. Our future matters mostly because we are going to grow up."

Humanities teacher Christine Hoffman says, after being involved in these simulations for about eight years, it's about finding issues the children can wrap their heads around.

"They will follow that through the discussions and the debates," Hoffman said.

"They got really excited about those debates because of the issues. It's about finding the things they connect with, the things that apply to them and their lives. 'This affects me now, or in the future.' If we can find those little nuggets to connect them to, I find they get excited about those things, and then the rest comes out of that."

At Peter Lougheed, the experience is open for students in grades 5 through 9, but there's deeper detail in grades 6 and 9.

"Kids really can get fired up. They really can get interested in democracy," she said.

Ram Naiker said that, while he voted for a conservative party, he's OK with whatever party is elected in Monday's federal election.

"Experiencing how people vote for the first time is so great," Naiker said.

"Because you get your own opinion before you are 18. It's like feeling like you will feel when you actually vote."

These students will find out how their peers votedon Tuesday, the day after the election.