When Ted Mukhar stopped teaching Ontario’s Grade 10 Civics course about a decade ago, his biggest concern was about how to keep the Student Vote program alive.
His Civics 10 class had been responsible for running the parallel election, so Mukhar solved the problem by deciding to turn Student Vote into a club. There has been no looking back for the Kitchener high-school teacher. “It couldn’t have worked out better,” he says now. “I’m so glad we did it that way.”
Organizing Student Vote is voluntary and open to all students in grades 9 to 12. “It’s become like a staple at our school. As soon as they hear the announcement of an election coming up, teachers and students start asking me, ‘when is Student Vote starting?’”
Mukhar, who is now a co-op and student success teacher, will put out the announcement that the club is starting up as soon as an election is called. “I’m always amazed at the response of the number of students that come out from all grades, they want to be involved in something,” he says. “These kids really want to be a part of it, and they inspire me every day.”
The club will meet 2-3 times a week over the course of the campaign, before or after school or at lunch time. St. Mary’s Secondary has 2,300 students, so running Student Vote for the whole school is a substantial undertaking. The program has the support of the administration, so every teacher in the school participates.
The event is a big deal, and so is the preparation. “My artistic kids are doing the posters and the banners,” Mukhar explains. “My really keen political kids, they’re contacting the reps, the candidates, they’re reaching out to constituency offices and trying to get information to do their research. The good communicators are doing promotional videos and writing the announcements. Everyone is contributing in some way.”
After the school votes, the club will count the ballots, and have a pizza party where they are the first to learn the results of the tally. “I also share the feedback from the teachers and I share the feedback from the students that I received,” says Mukhar. “It’s just an amazing time and inspiring.”
One year, CBC wrote an article about the Student Vote club, which he got to present to the team after the election. “Their picture was the article, and they were just so thrilled to be acknowledged for their hard work.”
St. Mary’s has a large population of new immigrants and one of Mukhar’s most meaningful memories of Student Vote is of a time when he was called into a low-level ESL class during a municipal election to help run the program with students with not a lot of language skills.
After sharing slides about candidates, he was not sure how much of the information the students absorbed, but one young woman from a country without democracy expressed appreciation for how much these local candidates seem to care about the people.
“In essence, that’s what democracy is all about — the ability to choose somebody that we feel cares about us and wants to do better for our future,” says Mukhar. “This was a moment that just inspired me and made me realize that I knew what we’re doing is the right thing.”
Mukhar has been working with CIVIX since 2007, when he began working as part of an ad hoc curriculum writing team. He’s been an advisor since, and has used most of CIVIX’s programs.
He’s passionate about teaching and says his biggest priority is to connect with students. “I have teenagers myself, and I realized for them, they just want a teacher that builds a connection with them.”
That's what democracy is all about — the ability to choose somebody that we feel cares about us and wants to do better for our future.
Mukhar does this in many ways. Through his work with Student Vote, he has developed relationships with local politicians, which has in turn led to work experience opportunities for his co-op students.
He routinely places students in the office of Mike Morrice, the local Green MP, where they work at reception. “They get to see the people that are asking an MP for support and help and a lot of them are new to this country, so students get to hear the stories of how they came here and what they need help with navigating Canada. They get to see the role of an MP or MPP in person,” says Mukhar.
If the students can’t help, they direct the visitors appropriately and gain valuable work experience in the process. “His office is just amazing,” he says. “They’re so good with our students.”
In all of this work, Mukhar is motivated by a desire to protect Canadian democracy from the challenges it’s facing.
“I see the way our world is going and I don’t ever want to become a country that lacks a strong democracy,” he says. “I see the percentages of voters going down. And then the reaction of the people afterwards who get frustrated with the government in power. But then you look back at the voting rates, and it’s all connected. If you want to have a better future, you need to get out and vote.”
At a Glance
Name: Ted Mukhar
Location: Kitchener, Ontario
Grades Taught: 9-12
Subjects Taught: Co-op, Student Success
Years Teaching: 23
Years Involved with CIVIX: 17
CIVIX programs used: Student Vote, Student Budget Consultation, Rep Day
Key Motivation: “It's the students that are knocking on my door, as soon as the election is announced. Student Vote has become such a big event at our school, and they're so inspired by it, they want to be a part of it.”