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CAMPUS STORIES

Mesa Community College

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Institution Type

,

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Year

Key Steps
1. Recruitment of Student Leaders: Selected students based on availability, public speaking skills, and knowledge of voting to ensure effective peer-to-peer engagement.2. Training: Conducted two 2-hour sessions to review presentations, practice public speaking, and assign slide responsibilities.3. Presentation Delivery: Completed 10 classroom presentations, directly reaching 332 students with nonpartisan voter education.
Partnerships
Fair Election Center – Provided guidance on voter rights and registration. AZ Clean Elections – Offered nonpartisan election information and resources. Maricopa County Elections Department – Supported with local voter registration and election logistics. Students Learn Students Vote Coalition – Supplied resources, best practices, and advocacy support.
Timeline
Recruitment: Early March 2024 – Applications open for 15 days.Training: Mid-March 2024 – Two 2-hour training sessions for selected students.Scheduling: Late March 2024 – Faculty requests collected via Google Forms and presentations scheduled.Classroom Presentations: April 2024 – MCC Votes Team delivered 10 presentations, reaching 332 students.Reflection & Feedback: Late April 2024 – Gathered faculty feedback and evaluated the pilot to inform future iterations.
Outcomes
Student Reach: Completed 10 classroom presentations, reaching 332 students directly.Positive Feedback: Faculty reported that presentations were clear, engaging, and nonpartisan.Increased Awareness: Students gained knowledge about voter registration, voting requirements, and how to make a voting plan.Program Insights: The pilot highlighted the need for a larger team and longer timeframe to expand reach in future semesters.Foundation for Growth: Established a successful model for peer-led voter engagement on campus, creating a framework for scaling the program.
Barriers/Challenges
Short Timeframe: The pilot occurred over a brief period, which limited flexibility for presentations. The team focused on maximizing impact in the available time.Scheduling Conflicts: Coordinating times between students and faculty was sometimes challenging. Using Google Forms for requests and Google Calendar for scheduling helped streamline the process.Political Fatigue Among Students: Some students were hesitant to engage due to stress or disinterest in politics. The team addressed this by keeping presentations nonpartisan, interactive, and approachable, and by emphasizing making voting a shared experience with friends and family

In 2024, Mesa Community College piloted a classroom visit model through the MCC Votes Team to increase nonpartisan student voter engagement. The goal was to reach students directly in their classrooms, provide clear voter education, and empower students to make a voting plan.

The team recruited students through a 15-day application process, selecting candidates based on availability, public speaking skills, and knowledge of voting. Recruited students participated in two 2-hour training sessions to review the presentation, practice public speaking, and learn how to lead assigned slides. Faculty requests for classroom visits were collected via Google Forms, and interviews were scheduled through Google Calendar.

As a result, in April 2024, the MCC Votes Team completed 10 classroom presentations, reaching 332 students. Faculty feedback was overwhelmingly positive, noting that students appreciated the clear, engaging, and nonpartisan approach. While the pilot was limited by a small team size and short timeframe, the experience provided valuable insights and a foundation for expanding the program in future semesters.

This milestone was made possible through student leadership, faculty collaboration, and structured planning, demonstrating that targeted, peer-led engagement can successfully connect students to the voting process.

Due to the success of this pilot program, the MCCC Votes Team was able to expand and run a full-scale classroom visits program, which incorporated key takeaways from 2024, namely, beginning faculty outreach earlier in the semester to expand participation and scheduling flexibility, increasing the number of student presenters from 5 to 8 to reach more classrooms, strengthening collaboration with the Counseling Department to provide short mindfulness moments or guided reflections in future presentations, and collecting more qualitative feedback from students about how mindfulness and civic engagement intersect to reduce political distress and encourage action. In Fall 2025, the MCC Votes student presenters visited 22 classrooms, reaching a total of 667 enrolled students, and established the classroom visits program as a sustainable and ongoing part of the campus culture.

SLSV Resources Used

Ask Every Student Class Visits
Voting as a Student 101 Template Classroom Presentation
Fair Elections Center’s Campus Vote Project Voter Registration Guides
More Campus Stories

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