Katie Samol | The Chronicle
On Tuesday, Nov. 4, 2025, Mason residents will have the opportunity to cast their ballots for three Mason school board members. As election day approaches, candidates’ campaigns are in full swing. Campaign signs line Mason Montgomery Road, candidates hold events connecting with the community and social media feeds are flooded with promotional videos.
Those 18 and older can cast their ballots, but why do students care about this election? Is involvement possible even if voting is not? Multiple Mason High School (MHS) students have played a role in candidates’ campaigns, whether it be through social media content creation or assistance in reaching a younger voter demographic.
Senior Owen Hurrle edits videos for the Charles Galvin campaign using Adobe Premiere Pro in the MHS Dream Center.
MHS senior Owen Hurrle is involved in Charles Galvin’s campaign through social media photo and video editing. Galvin reached out to Hurrle in June, having seen his content produced for Mason Sports Radio. On Sept. 7, at Galvin’s campaign launch at 50 West Brewing Hurrle recorded speeches and pieced a video together that can be seen on Galvin’s Instagram feed. Although Hurrle is not involved in the civic engagement side of the race, the video production aspect exposed him to the complexities of running for the school board.
“If I were uninvolved [in a campaign], I probably wouldn’t have even known there was an [upcoming] school board election,” Hurrle said. “I’ve been able to see a lot of behind-the-scenes [efforts], and it just goes to show all the work that they put [into] trying to gain support.”
Board member Charles Galvin finds value in student participation in the school board race and local political engagement.
“I hope that the average high school student cares about civic engagement,” Galvin said. “As a board member, I have the potential to influence the educational experience of high schoolers. If I didn’t think I had that influence, I probably wouldn’t run.”
Emori Witmer-Gautsch, a senior at MHS, is the president of Mason Inclusion Club (MIC), the cofounder and vice president of Warren County Young Democrats and Warren County’s Young Democrat of the year. In September, MIC hosted a student voter registration drive, providing students who will be 18 years old by Nov. 4 with the tools to register to vote.
“For a couple of years, MIC has been really wanting to host a voter registration drive, and we had the opportunity this year to connect with our students and encourage them to get out and vote,” Witmer-Gautsch said. “I am really passionate about [voter registration drives] for a number of reasons. I’m a poll worker, and I believe civic engagement is the future of America.”
Witmer-Gautsch is working with Ian Orr, the current Mason School Board president, on his reelection campaign. She is focusing on campaign strategy and branding. Witmer-Gautsch’s role is to bridge the gap between student volunteers and Orr’s campaign strategy.
Emori Witmer-Gautsch, Mar Snedaker and Reign Matu (left to right), members of Mason Inclusion Club, sit in MHS halls encouraging students to register to vote on Nov. 4.
“I know how hard it is to try to fit all of your opinions into a 15- or 60-second clip to post on Instagram,” Witmer-Gautsch said. “[So I try to] connect what [those] working on his campaign know is important and make sure that [Orr’s] values and opinions are accurately expressed in a way that doesn’t feel inauthentic or incomplete.”
David Charpentier is running for the Mason School Board for the first time this November. Charpentier said he thinks kids need to care about every local election, even if the big noise of national news dominates media attention.
“I think a lot of times what we hear is the big noise, but the decisions and the work that’s done locally has the greatest impact,” Charpentier said. “Your local school board, your local city council, your local township trustee races? They impact what our roads look like, whether we have a tennis tournament and the status of our parks.”
School board candidate Danielle Tymitz saw the impact of student civic engagement on a local level in a recent conversation with future voters. She finds value in hearing the perspective of youth in Mason’s community.
“I had the privilege of working with some Girl Scouts about a week ago and sharing with them one of the school board policies,” Tymitz said. “It was the homework policy. It was interesting because they didn’t know it existed.”
Tymitz said that students should want experts on the board making decisions and writing policies that will impact their four years at MHS.
“These are the things that are so important to your day-to-day life,” Tymitz said. “It’s easy to get caught up in a national or even state-wide politics conversation when the reality is, your day-to-day is so highly impacted by these local officials.”
Eden Orr, daughter of board president Ian Orr, graduated from MHS last year and enrolled in ASL 3 through College Credit Plus (CCP) because MHS did not offer ASL 3 as an in-person class. The class was added as an MHS course this year due to student interest and demand. Orr highlighted the value of student advocacy on a local level through this course proposal process.
“It’s interesting to see your voice show up and be like, ‘Wow, this is the thing I really wanted and now it’s here,’” Orr said. “There are so many places in your life that you may be disempowered, but to be able to say ‘No, we want this,’ is very empowering for teenagers.”
Whitmer-Gautsch believes that advocating for yourself and making an impact in your community is possible regardless of your age.
“Even if you’re too young to vote, that doesn’t mean that you can’t connect with [school board members] and set up a meeting,” Witmer-Gautsch said. “All of them are more than happy to meet with you and give you support. You can make real change if you just ask, and that’s as simple as it is. Do it because you care about yourself, others and your family.”
