19 Iowa schools to be awarded the Carrie Chapman Catt Award

DES MOINES, Iowa (KWQC) - 19 schools in Iowa were awarded the Carrie Chapman Catt Award for registering 90 percent of their eligible students to vote, according to the Iowa Secretary of State.

More than 2,600 students in high schools across the state registered to vote this year in conjunction with the Catt Award initiative.

Current Iowa Secretary of State Paul Pate created the award in 2019 to help encourage voter registration in Iowa high schools. The award is named after Carrie Chapman Catt, a famous Iowa native who helped secure the passage of the 19th Amendment. This amendment granted women access to the ballot box more than 100 years ago, according to the media release from the office of the secretary of state.

“It’s great to see so many young people stepping up and taking the first step in the voting process by getting registered,” Secretary Pate said. “Thank you to the teachers and administrators at these 17 schools by engaging the students in civics. I tell young people all the time, the best way to make your voice heard is by voting, and to do that, you need to get registered.”

Each of the 19 schools recognized will be presented the Carrie Chapman Catt Award trophy.

Additionally, nine schools registered more than 70 percent of eligible students, and 10 registered more than 50 percent. Inspire2Vote collaborated with Secretary Pate’s office to further assist schools with voter registration, according to the Secretary of State’s office.

Below is a list of the 19 schools that earned this award. Five of these schools qualified for the fourth straight year (denoted with four asterisks****). Four schools qualified for the award for the third time (denoted with three asterisks***). Four schools qualified for the award for the second time (denoted with two asterisks**). Six schools qualified for the award for the first time this year.

- Ballard High School (Huxley)****

- Bishop Garrigan High School (Algona)***

- Central Community School (Elkader)**

- Clayton Ridge High School (Guttenberg)***

- Dubuque Senior High School (Dubuque)

- Essex Junior-Senior High School (Essex)

- Fairfield High School (Fairfield)

- Gladbrook-Reinbeck High School (Reinbeck)**

- Harlan High School (Harlan)

- Isaac Newton Christian Academy (Cedar Rapids)****

- Lake Mills High School (Lake Mills)**

- Lone Tree High School (Lone Tree)****

- Marquette Catholic High School (Bellevue)***

- Norwalk High School (Norwalk)****

- Remsen St. Mary’s High School (Remsen)

- Rivermont Collegiate (Bettendorf)****

- West Marshall High School (State Center)**

- West Monona High School (Onawa)

- Woodward-Granger High School (Woodward)***

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