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Ohio Valley Educators Bring Delegate Experience Home to Students

WHEELING — The recent Republican and Democratic national conventions have served as learning experiences for two local educators who will now bring back firsthand knowledge of the presidential nomination process to their students.

Katrina Lewis has returned to her job as vice principal at Wheeling Park High School after representing Marshall County and West Virginia as a delegate to the Republican National Convention last week. And Joe Jividen of Wheeling, a social studies teacher at Wheeling Country Day School, served as a delegate to the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia this week.

“I expected to be one of the younger delegates here,” said Jividen, 27. “But out of the 37 delegates (from West Virginia), six of them are younger than I am. Keeping young people in West Virginia is one of my goals as a teacher, and I am one of those people.”

The youngest member of the West Virginia delegation in Philadelphia was 21, according to Jividen.

Lewis, meanwhile, was among those standing out front at the RNC when West Virginia’s delegation announced its 34 votes for GOP nominee Donald Trump before a nationwide audience. While 33 members of the delegation had been pledged to Trump, Lewis was the only delegate pledged to Ohio Gov. John Kasich.

“By the time the roll call came to us, Donald Trump was already over the top and had the nomination,” Lewis said. “Since that happened, my thought then was we needed to unify the state’s vote and get behind the candidate.”

She said she will now be able to share with students “some of those little details you don’t see in history books” about what happens at the convention and during the roll call of states.

“For example, it’s a big deal to be the state that puts the nominee over the top — and that’s not necessarily something you always learn in the classroom,” she said. “And when the total gets close, a state can elect to pass so the candidate’s home state can put them over. I didn’t know there were rules like that.

“I also learned about how the party platform comes together. You always hear about it, but you don’t know that people go a week ahead of time to discuss it,  and that we as delegates then vote to approve it.”

Lewis said she learned much about the presidential nominating process “while actually participating in it.”

“Because I’m so enthusiastic about my experience, I hope that sparks enthusiasm for teachers, staff and students to say the next time around, ‘I’m going to think about getting into that delegate race,'” she said.

Jividen said one of his favorite moments this week at the DNC in Philadelphia was a line from first lady Michelle Obama’s speech suggesting how children and adults should handle bullies: “When they go low, we go high,” she said, encouraging people to rise above the hurtful behavior of others.

“It’s what we’ve been telling our kids,” Jividen said. “To hear that on the national stage is great for kids and adults.”

Jividen said he often thinks outside the box to find ways to teach his second-, third- and fourth-grade social studies students the finer aspects of democracy. Among his favorite activities last school year were simulations in which students acted as Congress, crafting and debating bills about changing classroom rules.

“I like to teach things a little differently, and try to make them active and engaging,” Jividen said. “A lot of kids are into animal welfare, while some are interested in movies and entertainment. You have to focus on what’s relatable to children. I’m going to share with them my experiences on the convention, and how great it is. The experience really is life-changing.”

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