With the upcoming presidential election this year, many students are wondering what they can do to help with the election process. As there was a state election, the administrators of Rho Kappa decided to have their members work the election. Rho Kappa is DePaul Prep’s national social studies honors society. The society sent students in hopes that they can learn more about the election process and hopefully take the knowledge they gain and use it in their future life. 

DePaul Prep’s chapter of Rho Kappa was founded in 2018. It was started by Joseph Hohrein, who wanted to have an honors society that was accessible to students who especially excelled in Social Studies. He said, “some classes might have kept people out of national honor society, but what about the students that aren’t as good in math or science but excel in their social studies?” The requirements to join Rho Kappa are a 3.2 overall GPA and a 3.5 cumulative in social studies, while National Honors Society requires a 3.75 cumulative GPA.

So with the help of Christopher Petersen, director of student activities, he founded Rho Kappa, and it has been very successful with gaining student interest. Since the founding of Rho Kappa, each year the amount of students inducted doubles, and Hohrien hopes that even more students join next year. 

Each honors society requires ten hours of service, and Hohrein said that he wanted to “have students doing service that gets them civically engaged”. Because of this he decided to have the students work the state election. Hohrein believed that this election would teach the students valuable lessons saying that “it will make for a more informed voter body”. The students had opportunities to learn more about the candidates and when they will be eligible to vote; they gained the proper knowledge to vote for the best candidate.  

Senior Ellie Romberg, a member of Rho Kappa, decided to work the election. She joined Rho Kappa because of the service work opportunities that it provided. She answered phones for the election last year but wanted to take on a more hands on approach to see how the process actually works. 

She said, “It’ll be cool to see what goes on election day because now I am able to vote.” She also hopes that she can help promote voting and encourage more people to get involved in the election process. 

Junior Claire Keck, also a member of Rho Kappa, decided to work the election. She joined Rho Kappa this year because of her interests in history and politics. She decided to work the election because “[she] thought it would be a good experience, and since [she] can’t vote yet, [she] can learn about the process.” 

Keck stated that the election process was fairly easy for her precinct, which was on Rockwell. She said, “there were around 80 voters, and there were tons of procedures for setting and packing up, everything was very organized.” Keck said that she would like to work the upcoming presidential election as it was an interesting way to get service hours, and that she wants to see how the election processes differ. 

With the upcoming presidential election, students may want to help but not know how. There are tons of options for students to help out. From answering phones to running polls, there are many options for students to get involved and learn more about the election process.