Dan Elliott stepped up and registered to include our student's voices in the statewide straw poll and as a result of their efforts, students received a unique civic education experience.

Because of the leadership from Iowa teachers like Dan the Iowa Youth Straw Poll was nationally recognized this year, winning the National Association of State Boards of Education Award for Outstanding Leadership in Voter Education from the National Parent Student Mock Election. In addition, the social media aspect, #IAparticipate, was a national top 5 finalist for a Government Social Media Award.

Iowa Secretary of State Paul D. Pate sent Dan a congratulatory certificate for their part in making the Iowa Youth Straw Poll nationally recognized.

"My thanks to all of the teachers and school administrators who helped make the Iowa Youth Straw Polls a huge success," said Paul Pate, Iowa Secretary of State. "More than 250 schools and 56,000 students participated statewide. We could not have done this without the efforts of the teachers. The Youth Straw Poll was a fun, hands-on learning experience for students across the state that hopefully will encourage them to become engaged in civics in their community."

The Iowa Youth Straw Polls were the culmination of Caucus 101 and Elections 101. Those are free, online, social studies curricula developed by Secretary Pate and written by Iowa teachers for Iowa students.  They are available for anyone to use at Elections101.org.