Amity Students Join in Planning Upcoming ‘Meet the Candidates’ Night

The League of Women Voters of Amity (LWV-A) is preparing for its upcoming ‘Meet the Candidates’ Night, scheduled for Thursday, October 16 (7-9pm), at Amity High School in the cafeteria. This year, students from Amity’s Critical Issues classes will join the League in helping to host the event.

Last week, members of the LWV-A steering committee visited Amity High School and spoke with students about democracy, elections, voting, and civic involvement. The students were eager to share ideas and asked thoughtful questions about how local elections work and how the League creates opportunities for voters to connect with candidates. Impressed by their enthusiasm, LWV-A invited the students to co-host this year’s event — an exciting development that will see them staffing a welcome table in the hallway before the program begins and circulating through the room during the breakout session to participate in and observe conversations.

All candidates on the November ballot for municipal offices in Bethany, Orange, and Woodbridge have been invited to participate. The program will open with brief remarks from the First Selectman candidates of each town, who will have five minutes each to introduce themselves, their running mates, and their key priorities. Following these introductions, which should take up the first hour or so of the event, voters will have the opportunity to circulate among tables set up for each candidate team and hold informal conversations during the final hour of the event.

Meanwhile, in the hallways outside the cafeteria, student groups have been invited to set up tables showcasing their clubs and related efforts, with refreshments available for fundraising purposes.

The League hopes the students’ presence will highlight an important message: that civil discourse can thrive when everyone treats each other with respect and allows for the exchange of ideas, even when they disagree. The event is part of a broader effort throughout the country to de-escalate political gamesmanship and personal attacks, and instead cultivate genuine conversation between constituents and elected officials.

All community members are encouraged to attend the event — not only to meet the candidates, but also to help model for young people the kind of civic engagement and respectful dialogue that keeps democracy alive. Many of these students will soon be first-time voters, and this event offers them a chance to see adults engaging constructively across differences. For parents, grandparents, neighbors, and those whose children have long since graduated, it’s also a chance to step back into the high school, see the school itself, and appreciate the impressive work it is doing to prepare today’s students for responsible civic participation.