Students are engaged voters at Edgewood College

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Best in Class Award: Highest Voting Rate Four-Year Private Institution Edgewood College Best in Class Award: Highest Voting Rate Four-Year Private Institution Edgewood College
Edgewood College received two Best in Class Awards for student voting rates.

At the first-ever ALL IN Challenge Awards ceremony to recognize colleges and universities committed to increasing college student voting rates, Edgewood College received two Best in Class Awards.

The College is recognized for having the highest student voting rate among four-year, private institutions category, as well as within the four-year, small, private institution category. Edgewood College also earned a Silver Seal for achieving a student voting rate between 60 and 69 percent.

More than 30 awards were announced at the event that took place in October at the Knight Conference Center at the Newseum in Washington, D.C.

“We are honored that our students have been recognized for their choice to be civically engaged through our democratic process,” Dr. Kris Mickelson, dean of the School of Integrative Studies said. “As an institution, we are committed to an education where engaged learning is central to our students’ experience, and civic engagement is one of the hallmarks of that commitment.”

Ms. Maribeth Witzel-Behl, Madison’s city clerk, also played a crucial role in the most recent election by providing an early voting location that students, faculty, staff, and voters from the surrounding neighborhoods were able to use, Mickelson said.

The All IN Campus Democracy Challenge is a national awards program. The Challenge encourages higher education institutions to help students form the habits of active and informed citizenship, and make democratic participation a core value on their campus. By joining the
Challenge, campuses commit to convening a campus-wide committee that includes members from academic affairs, student affairs, and the student body, as well as any other relevant stakeholders; developing and implementing an action plan to improve democratic engagement;
participating in the National Study of Learning, Voting, and Engagement (NSLVE) in order to measure student voting rates; and sharing their campus’ action plan and NSLVE results in order to be eligible for a recognition seal and/or awards.

Nearly 300 campuses, enrolling more than 4 million students, have joined the Challenge since its launch in summer 2016.