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Date: 10/12/2022
SOUTH HADLEY – Wilbraham resident and Pioneer Valley Performing Arts (PVPA) Charter School freshman Charlotte Powell departed for Seneca Falls, NY by bike to encourage people to vote.
The 14-year-old took off from the PVPA auditorium with her dad via bike following a send off ceremony by the school. The two will travel 300-miles by bike and will be taking the time to educate people on the importance of voting, as well as get people registered for voting along the journey.
The first stop was to Mount Holyoke College where Powell went to speak about her trip and ended the night at a voter registration event at Smith College. Powell was inspired by the Women’s Rights Movement and is hoping to bring awareness to the hardships that were borne by women in the early 1900’s during the suffrage.
“What motivated me was the fact that a lot of people in our country don’t think their vote matters and so I want to inform them that their vote does matter and that it took a lot to get our rights to vote,” said Powell.
Powell, before setting out for Seneca Falls, shared a going away goodie bag with classmates who can vote that had a pledge coin inside that read: “I promise Charlotte I will vote.”
The trek into New York will see Powell and her parents alongside riding their bikes and stopping at multiple colleges and universities in Massachusetts and New York where students are setting up voter registration sites on campus.
When Powell learned about the Women’s Suffrage Movement during the 100th anniversary of the 19th Amendment in 2019, she became much more engaged with the education of voting in America. She was discouraged to learn about low voter turnout, particularly women-voters, that takes place in elections and decided to come up with a way to inspire voting.
“Voting is a very important thing in our country and despite the fact that it’s been going on for about 250 years or so, not everyone has had the right to vote all that time,” said Principal Brent Nielsen to the PVPA student body. “We have gathered here together to send Charlotte and her family off on this really important ride.”
Powell plans to ride the roughly 300-mile trip to Seneca Falls in six days, averaging about 35-50 miles per day. She and her parents will host at least one voter education event at different stops each day as well.