Mayor Brandon Whipple met mayoral candidate Lily Wu for a debate in the auditorium on Oct. 3, answering questions from students. Steven Kretz, a history and government teacher, organized it along with journalism teacher Nathan Christner. Kretz wanted to educate students about what politics should look like, as well as get students involved with it.
“I know watching debates on television with our last election, a lot of students think it’s just a shouting match between two candidates. Sometimes they become kind of nasty,” Kretz said. “And I wanted to give the students an opportunity to see how civil discourse at the local level can be done.”
The town hall-style debate was attended by mostly seniors, as they are the grade most likely to be able to vote in November. In government classes, the students had been learning about why voting is so important, and about efforts to increase young voter turnout this election.
“Eighteen to 25 year olds are typically the lowest levels of voter turnout, and hopefully this may increase those numbers, at least for our local area. And mostly for this election coming up on Nov. 7 is the idea.” Kretz said.
Wu, a former news anchor from an immigrant family, hasn’t run for public office before but is optimistic to share her story and make a difference. Whipple has been mayor since 2020 and has made many changes he plans to keep fighting for.
“I believe young people need to learn about local civics and really how the government works at the local level…Because we want to hear your solutions. And we want (young people) to be part of the problem solving that the city has to work on as a community,” Wu said.
“We want (young people) to stay in Wichita, we want you to come back to Wichita to college. And I think that by having more programs that expose young folks to what Wichita as a city is actually investing in and doing and being a part of that conversation is going to help us create a better community, which means hopefully we can keep you all here,” Whipple said .
Each of the students that volunteered were given a question to ask the candidates that had been submitted by fellow classmates.
“It was pretty great to get to see them in person and what they believe in,” said Raul Crespo-Fernandez, a senior who attended and asked a question.
“My question was ‘What is the number one problem facing the city and how can you address this issue?’ Their answers were very diverse. One talked about four topics, which you can see on Lilly Wu’s website. And the other one, it was more civic than anything,” Crespo-Fernandez said. Not only did this event inform students about which candidate they may want to support, it opened a lot of eyes as to what the mayor actually has the power to do, why it is important to have someone in that role that you agree with and how and why students can get involved.
This was a rare opportunity for students to interact with the mayoral candidates one on one.
“When I walked through the doors and saw Lilly Wu standing right there, and then I got the chance to talk to her…Having that human to human moment that you don’t normally think of when you associate politicians with the idea of celebrities,” Isiah Patton (12) said.
The idea of the debate was to make students want to get involved, and it seemed to have succeeded.
“I feel more free to get involved, and in touch to learn about them as a whole,” Patton said. “This mayoral debate has caused a leap in local politics and that’s something I will want to avidly step into, especially as soon as possible.”
Interview Questions with Whipple and Wu
Why is it important to you to get your message out to the high school aged students?
Whipple: I think it’s important that we loop people in early, especially before there’s a problem, you want to actually make those connections.
Wu: Because we want all voices across our community to be heard. And I believe that young people have a voice and some ideas that could be helpful
What do you think the students got out of the questions you were asked?
Whipple: I think what they get is a really solid policy based understanding of where the candidates stand, so long as we stick to policy, and we don’t get into too much politics with it.
Wu: I think they got to see and hear from two different personalities, right?
Why is it important for high school students to pay attention to politics and how the mayor makes decisions that impact their lives?
Whipple: We want to make sure that we’re doing right by young folks as well. When it comes to being mayor, one of the things that we do is, you know, on that local level, what can we be investing in to make sure that young people are actually enjoying the city.
Wu: I want City Hall to be a welcoming environment for young people. Because we want to hear your solutions. And we want you to be part of the problem solving that the city has to work on as a community. And young people are part of that fabric of helping create solutions.
