University School of the Lowcountry is a school that believes in learning by doing and seeing, and students spend every Wednesday engaging in Learning Outside the Classroom experiences.  This means students leave campus and explore the community and our world - 30 field trips per year. Multiple opportunities emerged this academic year for USL students to learn more about democracy in action.

First, Tuesday, Nov. 8 was a special Learning Outside the Classroom day at University School of the Lowcountry. Students conducted exit polling for the Mount Pleasant Town Council and the Charleston Mayoral races. They spread out to eight precincts across Mount Pleasant in order to have a representative sample of the town as a whole, and they polled eight precincts in the City of Charleston. The goal was to garner approximately 100 completed exit polls at each site (approximately 800 for Mount Pleasant and 800 for Charleston).  urnout was light, and after 90 minutes at each location, students returned to USL with their data in order to compile the surveys and make informed predictions about the races.

The students prepared for this event for weeks, learning about the candidates and the issues. This experience is an annual endeavor at University School of the Lowcountry because of the pattern of Congressional (and occasionally statewide and more) races in even-numbered years and municipal elections in odd-numbered years. The students have learned about the candidates, marketing and the issues facing the community. They have also explored the value of exit polling in terms of statistics, sample size, location of precincts, turnout differences for different types of elections and the diversity of voters they will encounter. These are great lessons for preparing students to be active and informed participants in their country.

The results are used to predict the outcome. However, the students also have learned that exit polls can affect voter behavior if they are released before the end of voting. Therefore, the results are compiled but not released to the community until after 7 p.m.  This is a yearly experience, following upon similar endeavors undertaken during prior elections. It is a great learning activity about mathematics, statistics and the democratic process for everyone involved. Students become steeped in the responsibilities of citizenship and are able to ascertain first-hand the ebbs and flows in voting participation in connection to the races being contested during any given election.  

Second, University School students attended several rallies for candidates in the Republican presidential primary that was held on Saturday, Jan. 21. Groups of students attended evening events for Mitt Romney, Jon Huntsman and Rick Santorum. Because USL students learn three global languages at the same time (Latin, Spanish and Mandarin), they were able to converse with Governor Huntsman in Mandarin at the end of his rally. On Thursday, Jan. 19, all of the students attended daytime events for two candidates. Students went to a Romney rally at his state headquarters in West Ashley, Ron Paul's presentation at the College of Charleston's 'Bully Pulpit Series: Reflections on Presidential Communication,' Rick Santorum's 'Values Voter' rally at Mount Pleasant Memorial Waterfront Park and Newt Gingrich's speech at the Lowcountry Sportsmen's for Newt stump rally in Walterboro.  

The students learned a lot by going to two events, and that allowed them to compare and contrast each rally. In the Mmrning meetings that followed the primary, students shared stories and discussed lessons about marketing, handling crowds and questions, conveying confidence, choosing forums, etc. that will resonate with them for a long time. Regardless of political likes and dislikes, the students gained direct and relevant experience about politics and elections in America, and it was a profound and enlightening activity for the students.

For more information about USL, please see the School's website (www.uslowcountry.org).