After sharing her knowledge of politics and elections at a voting-themed storytelling event Sept. 12, senior Ava Tronson said speaking your voice is of great importance.

“It’s important to have your voice be heard and to have a stance on issues,” Tronson said. “If you’re not voting, you’re not having your input heard and you don’t really have a right to complain about what’s going on.”

According to Tronson, she enjoyed representing the younger generation’s viewpoint on voting in front of a generally older audience.

“There were a lot of older people and I thought it was important to show a younger perspective (on voting) even if I haven’t actually voted yet,” Tronson said.

Volunteer coordinator of the storytelling event Frank Fredman said he acknowledges that people enjoy sharing their stories and therefore provides different topics for each event.

“I’m a storyteller,” Fredman said. “I love telling stories and I also recognize that other people like telling stories so we’ve had a variety of themes.”

Although she is unable to vote in any elections this year, Tronson said she feels she will be ready to have an impact in the 2020 election. 

“I think I’ll be better prepared to vote and I’m more excited to be able to put somebody in office or do my part at least,” Tronson said.

According to Tronson, knowing who you’re voting for is essential if you want to see change aligning with your values.

“It’s really important to be self-aware,” Tronson said. “You have to have your vote be educated because otherwise you don’t know who you’re putting in office and it’s very important that if you have goals you want to see them through.”

Tronson said it’s important to become educated and not take your vote for granted.

“Get educated and look up who you’re going to be voting for and what their stances are,” Tronson said. “Just know so you can really do what you want with your vote because it really is a privilege.”

According to Fredman, the next generation to vote is extremely knowledgeable, but for unfortunate reasons.

“I think the youngest generation about to vote is the most informed young generation ever,” Fredman said. “Unfortunately it’s because of the necessity of all the problems we have in our society and in our environment. I don’t really have any advice, other than vote and get involved.”