Salem State Honored For Promoting Student Civic Engagement

SALEM, MA — A student vote ambassador campaign that helped register 450 Salem State University students for the recent midterm election was celebrated with a Students Learn Students Vote Coalition Award for civic engagement at the school.

The award honored the Frederick E. Berry Institute of Politics' efforts to increase student awareness of issues and engagement in the election process.

"Salem State joined the SLSV Coalition last year and it has totally changed the game on our campus," Berry Institute Assistant Director Samantha Giffen said. "We've historically had voting rates above the national average, and this year we were even more intentional about meeting students where they are. In the fall, we saw levels of voter registration and turnout at our on-campus polling location matching presidential election years."

The Berry Institute hired 10 student ambassadors to help increase student voter registration and guide them through the voting process. A campus-wide Vikings Vote Coalition was also formed consisting of students, staff, and faculty committed to promoting voter registration, education and turnout.

"Our vote ambassadors helped 450 students register to vote and talked to over 3,500 students about voting," Giffen said. "We also hosted multiple events for students to meet candidates and learn about ballot questions.

"Coalition building is something that I'm very passionate about because I deeply believe that it takes collaboration to successfully support students, including with their voting experience."

In 2020, Salem State's 68.1 voter engagement rate ranked it among the top third of all higher education institutions across the country, according to the National Study Of Learning, Voting, And Engagement.

(Scott Souza is a Patch field editor covering Beverly, Danvers, Marblehead, Peabody, Salem and Swampscott. He can be reached at Scott.Souza@Patch.com. Twitter: @Scott_Souza.)