February 2012

Montgomery County GOP,

On behalf of the student body at Thomas S. Wootton High School in Rockville, Maryland it is my privilege as a member of Student Government Association (SGA) to invite your organization to be a part of an unprecedented community event occurring at the end of April on our campus. This years election is an extremely important one for my generation, and my fellow student leaders and the Wootton community are preparing for an unparalleled experiment in teen empowerment. Thomas S. Wootton High School, BBYO, Rock the Vote, and a growing coalition of local and national municipal, political and service-oriented agencies will organize and sponsor a series of student-created and teen-led events entitled TUNED IN 2: Be the Voice that Rocks the World from April 16, 2012 through April 20, 2012. In 2008 the Student Governments initial efforts at TUNED IN were extremely successful and this year we hope to make this project even better for our student body. Teens have strong opinions on the issues and are motivated to participate in the political process, but identifying avenues for involvement (especially for teens not yet of voting age) can be challenging. To effectively empower the teen population, the coalition is working to motivate thousands of teenagers to get civically involved, take an active role in election year opportunities, serve the community and display youth leadership to the community. Every spring, the SGA creates an experiential program that focuses on a specific issue that we believe teenagers feel is important and want further education on. In the past, we have been so successful that major media outlets like CBS Evening News have covered our initiatives. For this years SGA project, we felt it was imperative to address the potential teens have in creating change within their communities and affecting the countrys political landscape. TUNED IN will include a two day teach-in when all departments will temporarily pause ongoing curriculums and teach studentcreated lesson plans about the issues significant to this years election, a day of in-class debates and panel discussions about the issues, an assembly with famous and influential individuals that have committed their lives to service and political activism, a Rock the Vote-inspired concert for thousands of teenagers from across the community, and a service and activism opportunities fair which is why we write you today. We are planning to turn the center of our campus into an all inclusive community service and activism expo filled with agencies, organizations, and campaigns students can get involved with locally and nationally. We strongly believe that your organization champions a cause that our student body is interested in and we hope that you will join us for this exciting event. The service and activism expo is scheduled for Friday, April 20th from 11:00 AM to 1:00 PM. Our entire student body of more than 2,400 students your display, but extra space can be made available just let us know. will have the opportunity to tour the fair and interact with your organizations representatives. We are sure that your organization will connect with passions of our student community. We have already secured for you half-of-a-table for Please feel free to be in touch with me or the SGA advisor Ms. Jennifer Taylor if you have any questions. We look forward to hearing from you and working with you to see our vision become a reality. Thank You, Chad Rudden 301.908.5216 woottonsga@gmail.com Jennifer Taylor, SGA Advisor 301.279.8565 Jennifer_A_Taylor@mcpsmd.org