Monterey High School Recognized For 100 Percent Of Eligible Students Registered To Vote

Tennessee Secretary of State Tre Hargett visited Monterey High School Wednesday to give the Anne Dallas Dudley Voter Registration Award.

Hargett said that the award was started to try and incentivize schools to get their students to vote. He said through the work of two students and their instructor, the school had registered 100 percent of eligible students to vote.

“And we think that’s fantastic, whenever we see the good we want to praise it,” Hargett said. “We want these students to be examples, not just to future students here at Monterey High School and in Putnam County we want there to be examples around the state so that other people see that it is doable to get everybody registered.”

Principal Sonja Farley said that she was so proud of her students to get this achievement. She said that she’s thrilled that the students took it seriously and came to realize that they have a voice.

Farley said that after COVID, it was nice to see kids jump into what’s real in the world. She said that the process of registering to vote is just one step her students have taken to take ownership of their role in civic duty.

“We try to stress here that academics are important,” Farley said. “But it’s more important to give back to the community. So we do a lot of volunteering, and the kids put in thousands of hours of volunteering during the school year. This is just one more step toward the citizenship that they need to learn about.”