HYLA - VoTexas & Vote America Program

Special Thank You to TEXAS YOUNG LAWYERS ASSOCIATION

for Helping us to Make the 2008-2009 Events Possible!

HYLA conducts voter registration screenings and shows the TYLA video “Vote America! Know the fight, Exercise your Right!” to high school students as a part of one-day school assemblies at various schools in the Greater Houston area with voter registration cards during the month of September & October [leading up to actual elections]. For the schools participating in the screenings at school assemblies, HYLA alsos provide information to interested teachers on how to implement the entire VoTexas curriculum in their classrooms.

Fourteen high schools in the Greater Houston area signed on to host voter registration screenings in September of 2008. The schools committing to host the HYLA Vote America program in September 2008 were: Humble High School, Kingwood H.S., Atascocita H.S., Jeff Davis H.S., Sam Houston H.S., Barbara Jordan H.S., Kashmere H.S., Booker T. Washington H.S., Phillis Wheatley H.S., Worthing H.S., Sterling H.S., Jones H.S., North Shore H.S., and DeBakey. 

HYLA also sponsored the movie viewing of “Vote America” with a discussion on the value and importance of voting & civic responsibility immediately following the video at the 2008 Teen Civic Leadership Academy (9AM-2PM) presented by HYLA at the High School for Law Enforcment & Criminal Justice on Tuesday, October 7, 2008 [three attending high schools:  H.S. for LE&CJ, Memorial H.S., and Milby H.S.]. 

Vote America was also incorporated into a program hosted by HYLA T.A.P.P. committee in the fall of 2008. 

HYLA & TYLA also made a presentation at a HYLA ECAP program at South Texas College of Law on September 20, 2008.

A Vote America presentation will be made by HYLA at Yes PREP North Central (scheduled for February 4, 2009). 

A full VoTexas curriculum with voter registration screening and video showing will additionally be presented by HYLA during two classroom sessions and a 2- to 3-hour assembly in May 2009 at Milby High School.

With assistance from the teacher at Milby H.S. with some prior preparation of the teens, the HYLA “VoTexas: Your Right, Your Vote, Your Voice” will include two trips to the school to conduct classroom sessions.  At the first session, HYLA young attorneys will host VoTexas units #1, #2, hold voter registration screenings, and show the “Vote America” video.  For session two, HYLA will return to review Unit #4 and host Unit #3 [Unit #4 touched on by the teacher prior to visit].  Following those two units in the morning, for three hours in the afternoon, HYLA will hold a school assembly with several classes of students attending for a Unit #5-Mock Debate & the Unit #6-Mock Elections.   

To volunteer for this HYLA committee and volunteer at an upcoming presentation, please send an interest email to wendymiller@comcast.net or hyla@hyla.org.