Oliver Ames Students Test Political Waters

When senior Alex Spencer was a sophomore in Matt Auger's history class, he found himself caught up in the political banter and back-and-forth nature of the 2008 Presidential Election between then Illinois Senator Barack Obama and Arizona Senator John McCain.

The election inspired Spencer, but he found the same wasn't true for the rest of his OA classmates.

"I got really excited with the whole Obama – McCain thing," he said. "We were debating in history class. I saw that a lot of people weren’t really interested, so I wanted to start something to get people more interested."

The result was SCOPE (Students Concerned About our Political Environment). Spencer, now the senior class president, is in the forefront of the movement, which has seen Easton legislators visit Oliver Ames, including State Representative Geraldine Creedon (D-Brockton), and State Senator Brian A. Joyce(D-Milton), who visited the students of SCOPE Monday afternoon.

Auger, now the group's advisor, said the idea was Spencer's "brain child." The OA senior formed the group, organized students, and organizes many of the events, including Joyce's appearance Monday. Spencer also worked on Joyce's  last fall.

"Alex was an absolute rockstar in the campaign," Joyce said. "I was very impressed with Alex. He enlisted a group of kids. They took their responsibilities very seriously. They were very dependable in terms of organizing standouts with signs or leafleting, and even going door to door and asking folks to put up signs."

During Monday's talk, Joyce urged the OA students to stay politically active, and acknowledged that they were already a step ahead of the curve. Joyce told stories about staying true to values, including his own experiences and votes against the death penalty and for same sex marriage.

He explained to the students that they could become involved in politics at an early age. He pointed to his son, Michael, who won a town meeting representative seat in Milton at the age of 18.

"We already have a system of government where we make the decisions, both locally here in Easton, state and nationally," Joyce told the students. "If you’re not participating, you don’t get to shape public policy. You can get involved in several ways. The barest of minimums – vote."

Joyce said it is important that young people listen to different views and have an open mind.

"I’d say that, any of the folks of my generation who are concerned about our future, and political activists, they ought to come in here and meet this group," he said. "They are extraordinarily impressive young men and women. Very impressive."