Active Citizens Club takes active role

Members of the JHS Active Citizens Club are vocal about their involvement in local politics.

Several students from the club at Jonesboro High School, including two Young Republicans and one Young Democrat, spoke to the JHS Golden Eye.  Many of those students were willing to share their own views as well as share what activities or meetings the club is going to do soon.

The Active Citizens Club was organized more than eight years ago as two separate clubs: the Young Republicans and Young Democrats, but in 2016 they merged to form the Active Citizens Club.

The Young Republicans have 12 members, and their president and vice president are Caroline Rose and Isabella Baughn.

 The Young Democrats have 11 members, and the co-presidents of the club are Alicia Santos and Garrett Swindle.  The club’s adviser is Jon Newman.  Many of the students attend city council meetings or campaign for a political candidate like Nate Looney, according to Garrett Swindle.  

According to Isabella Baughn, “Right now we are working very hard to become an officially chartered Young Republicans chapter so we can more frequently partner with our state chapter. This will provide a much larger platform for our voices to be heard.”

In terms of an impact on the local community, students’ opinions were varied. Caroline Rose said the Active Citizens have had a large impact on the community and have helped out and given back any way they could.

Newman said the 21 students visited the Arkansas State Capitol last year, and six of them served as pages in the Arkansas House of Representatives.  In addition to that, there are some job shadowing opportunities coming up for the club, and 26 students signed up.

Newman said there are some imperative events coming up.  However, the most important and anticipated event coming up is a Young Democrats meeting in Russellville. All of the Arkansas Young Democrats will attend an event in Russellville on Nov. 10-11 called “Conference,” which is a Young Democrats of Arkansas Annual event.

Another upcoming event that most members of the club are attending is the Active Citizens city government job shadowing program, which is where the students will get to stay with city government workers for a day to see how the ins and outs of city government work.  

In terms of political candidates, many Republicans supported President Donald Trump’s campaign for president (about 95 percent, according to Rose).  

Also, many Democrats supported Bernie Sanders’ run for president due to their progressive leanings, Swindle said.  Also, according to Alicia Santos, many Young Democrats attended a rally to protest the president’s decision to end DACA at the Craighead County Courthouse.  Another event attended by the club was that many of the students attended the United Day of Caring and was “very rewarding” for many students, Santos said.  

“Last year was a huge year to take action in the community due to it being an election year. Many students were very active in volunteering with the Republican headquarters here in Jonesboro to work on various campaigns,” Newman said. “This year, we are just getting a start with group outings, but we have already had an awesome turnout for job shadow sign-ups and a large amount of participation in community-driven events.”  

Each of the students interviewed talked openly about how they are tolerant of others’ views and are willing to debate them.  

“I like to think that everyone in our group would be extremely tolerant of other viewpoints,” Santos said.  

“We are all for the free marketplace of ideas, and would gladly debate anyone over any topic,”  Swindle said.  

Caroline Rose said members of the Young Republicans are open about receiving other political viewpoints.

“I know they strongly disagree with some of them, but they typically talk amongst each other about it, instead of causing any type of public scene,” she said.  

Newman said members of the club disagree often.

“… But the club is based on civic involvement rather than internal debate, so it doesn’t cause problems,” Newman said.