AREA NEWS

Sec. Pate visits HTC seniors

Secretary of State presents Catt award to Holy Trinity Catholic

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FORT MADISON – Iowa Secretary of State Paul Pate made an appearance at the Holy Trinity Catholic Senior Award Ceremony Thursday morning.
Pate said HTC was one of just 43 schools among the hundreds in the state to get the Carrie Chapman Catt award for the top performing schools in voter registration of eligible students.
Pate created the award in 2019 and Fort Madison High School was one of the early recipients. Holy Trinity tied for the fourth highest percentage of eligible students registered to vote with 94% this school year.
The award is named after Catt who grew up on a farm near Charles City and attended Iowa State University, then known as Iowa Agricultural College. In 1887 she began to campaign for women’s suffrage on the state and national level.
Pate congratulated the students and staff for their work, and said the Catt award was a significant award. He said Catt crusaded across the entire country to give women the right to vote. Before that effort he said half of the country’s population wasn’t included in the voting process and the country needs to continue to recognize those efforts.
He challenged the seniors and the other high school students to continue to place value on being registered voters and join voting rolls as soon as possible.
“You seniors are graduating, and the underclassman will be following and you are the next chapter,” he said.
“Elections can be very close and you’re voice does count. A few years ago we had a congressional race in this area where we had some 300,000 votes cast and the victory lap was determined by just six votes,” he said.
“Less than the number in this senior class decided who would be the next Congresswoman.”
He compared the Catt award to a championship in high school sports and said Iowa is one of the top states in the country in getting youth engaged in registering to vote.
“We are thrilled with the record number of schools being recognized this year and the thousands of young Iowans who have registered to vote as a result of the Carrie Chapman Catt Award program,” Pate said.
“It is clear that Iowa students are highly engaged and interested in the elections process, and we look forward to seeing that reflected when they head to the polls once they are eligible.”
Pate then invited the students at the ceremony to come up and have their photo taken with him prior to senior awards being handed out.
The seniors were honored with 40 different scholarships, awards and recognitions as part of the ceremony.

Secretary of State, Paul Pate, Holy Trinity Catholic, Carrie Chapman Catt Award, voter registration, students, news, Lee County, Iowa, Pen City Current

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