GOOD MORNING AND
HAPPY FRIDAY!
All In For Autism
Community Workout Event- All
In For Autism Community WOD Event- Saturday, April 28th. Go to https://www.eventbrite.com/e/all-in-for-autism-community-wo… to register.
Stars and Cars Event- The Rompin Stompin Big Blue Band is partnering with the
Cars and Stars event on the Downtown Square in Graham this coming Saturday,
April 14th. Admission is FREE! Loads of fun for the entire family beginning at
10 am.
Family Block Party with the band "Kicked to the Curb” from 5 to 8
pm. Bounce Houses for the kids. Concession Stand selling Meal Deals and Snacks.
Kona Ice will be there selling snow cones. A movie will be shown at dusk
(around 8:15) on the lawn by the big chalkboard! So, bring a chair or a blanket
to sit on, and bring a jacket, because it might get chilly! Come support a
great event and the AWESOME RSB3[1] !!!
GHS One Act Play- Break a Leg at the UIL Regional Contest today in Lubbock!
GHS UIL Academics- Best of luck at the UIL Regional Contest in Lubbock on Saturday!
Lady Blues Softball- BIG CONGRATS on the victory over Burkburnett to remain undefeated in
district! Good luck this evening at home
vs Abilene Wylie.
Graham Steer Baseball- Best of luck this evening at home vs the Wylie Bulldogs!
GPEF Hall of Honor Nominations- Our inaugural Hall of Honor induction was a huge success and it's time
to begin the nomination process for the next group that will be inducted in the
Fall of 2018. Completed nomination forms are due by Wednesday, June 27, 2018.
You can retrieve the nomination forms at the Graham ISD Administration Office
at 400 3rd Street or from the web at https://drive.google.com/…/15AEix6vMohbWy1P8WdQ9jcpUK4thLm-….
A Culture of Voting… Means
Voting in EVERY Election!
Register to vote
now until April 23rd for the May 22nd Primary Runoff Election.
One of the Oxford English
Dictionary definitions of culture is: The
ideas, customs, and social behavior of a particular people or society.
Creating a culture of voting is encouraging eligible citizens in a democracy to
participate in the choosing of its leaders. The more people participate, the
more the power is spread among the voters and the stronger that society’s
democracy will be. And as you know, that is one of the central tenets of the
Texas social studies curriculum in every grade. While some powerful elected
leaders are scared of school districts creating a culture of voting, their
reaction should be what raises concern, not the idea that people will be
exercising their civic duty.
Broken down further, social
behavior is comprised of habits. I’ve heard over and over that it takes 21 days
to create a habit. Research has been conducted on this and findings show that
it will more likely take anywhere from two to eight months to build a new
habit. Simple habits, like drinking an additional glass of water, may be
attained with less practice than a habit that is harder to integrate. That
said, voting isn’t something we get to do every single day. If so, it wouldn’t
be so hard to create that habit and cement the culture of voting. Since there
are only a handful of opportunities to vote in any given year, we must embrace
each and every one, be prepared for it, and model the behavior for children
from when they are very young until they are old enough to vote themselves.
This year is an election year,
and the next election is the primary runoff election on May 22nd. May is always
a very busy time for students, educators, and families. But…that doesn’t make
voting any less important. These elections determine the options for the
November general election. Primary runoff elections have historically had
staggeringly low participation rates. It is almost embarrassing!
2016 May Primary Runoff (Presidential)
Republican
-Percentage of Voting Age
Population registered: 73.75%
-Percent of turnout to
Registered: 2.64%
-Percent of turnout to Voting Age
Population: 1.95%
2016 May Primary Runoff
(Presidential) Democratic
-Percentage of Voting Age
Population registered: 73.75%
-Percent of turnout to
Registered: 1.31%
-Percent of turnout to Voting Age
Population: 0.97%
2014 May Primary Runoff
(Gubernatorial) Republican
-Percentage of Voting Age
Population registered: 71.91%
-Percent of turnout to Registered:
5.53%
-Percent of turnout to Voting Age
Population: 3.98%
2014 May Primary Runoff
(Gubernatorial) Democratic
-Percentage of Voting Age
Population registered: 71.91%
-Percent of turnout to
Registered: 1.48%
-Percent of turnout to Voting Age
Population: 1.06%
Wow. We really have some work to
do on getting people out to vote. As you can see from the data above, voter
registration grew almost 2% between 2014 and 2016, but voter turnout has been
dismal. In the last gubernatorial primary runoff elections, a total of about 5%
of Texans voted. In the 2016 presidential election cycle, less than 3% of
Texans voted in the primary runoff elections. That tells us two things:
1)
People who voted had A LOT of power.
2) Very few people are making big
decisions about how we run our state and who will lead it.
Creating habits and changing
culture takes time, but the results of engaging in our democracy will be worth
the work!
CORNY JOKE OF THE DAY:
What do you call a happy bunny?(Scroll down for the
answer.)
An Hop-timist
