(bright music) - [Reporter] A federal government shutdown appears unavoidable after a meeting between President Trump and congressional leaders from both sides of the aisle failed to produce a deal this afternoon.

- [Miten] Did Congress pass a budget to avoid a shutdown?

- [Students] No.

- No, they did not.

Republicans blame Democrats, shocker.

Democrats, shocker, are blaming Republicans.

And this thing that we're not necessarily seeing a compromise on is healthcare.

But roughly 750,000 federal employees are just gonna be sent home.

And then excepted employees, they're gonna have to stay on the job, but they're not gonna get paid.

You're an air traffic controller, you work for the federal government.

We need planes to not crash into each other when they're in the sky.

At the beginning of every school year, like why are you here?

You could have chosen a lot of different classes other than mine.

We are here for a whole year.

It's not a semester-long course.

So like we're gonna be spending a considerable amount of time together.

And, you know, they offer up like really good reasons.

Some of 'em are very honest, and they're like, "It's an AP class, "and I want to take a college-level class."

Students on the other end of the spectrum will say, like, "I just love talking about government and politics.

"Like we talk about it at home, "we talk about it with my friends.

"I'm aware about what's going on around me, "and I want to be able to discuss the things "that are going on on a local level, "on a regional level, on a countrywide level."

- Are these like common occurrences or do these happen like very rarely when there's like distinct discrepancy between like two political parties?

- I would say in the last 15 years or so, we're starting to see it happen far more often.

- What's stopping those air traffic controllers from just not showing up to work?

What's stopping them all from just staying home?

- Legally, you can't stay home.

Like we're forcing you to come.

It's part of like your job description.

You just gotta kind of take these bad times where they come.

- [Silas] And who is still paid?

Is that like the Senate and the House of Representatives that won't pass the bill are still getting paid?

- Oh my god, Silas, the trillion-dollar question.

Guess who's always gonna get paid during a government shutdown?

Congress is.

The individuals that arguably are causing the shutdown will always get paid if there's a shutdown.

Great point, great question.

Ben?

- Was the main disagreement health insurance, and if there was any other disagreements?

- This is a great question.

I would say a secondary disagreement was: if you voted no, you wanted much stronger and, dare I say, legal language to say that, if Congress appropriates money, you better give that money when it's under your purview.

Caroline?

- The executive branch has to use money how Congress appropriates.

Like how is that not already legally in our budgets or even within our Constitution?

I don't really get that.

- The short answer is that it's being interpreted by the executive branch when they receive all this cash.

Like, "Maybe I have some wiggle room here "in terms of how this money gets doled out."

They're trying to eliminate some of that interpretation with this budget.

If you voted no, you're like, "Let's make the language even stronger."

I mean, we're not short of headlines, right?

That deal with our current government, our current political structure, the flaws in it perhaps.

A lot of the questions that they ask all tend to be around like: "How is this happening?

"How is our democracy "literally like functioning in this way?

"Is someone in the right, is someone in the wrong?

"How is this taking place?"

Here, just for argument, can I get you all just on that side of the room?

And if you're over here, would you all sort of gather your chairs or gather yourself?

All of you are newly appointed senators.

Sorry.

They are refusing to back your bill.

How are you gonna get five of them to join you?

How are you gonna convince five out of your seven to not walk over there?

- Senator Durbin, please.

Why are you still there?

So, last March, this exact situation happened, and you guys promised that you would take care of healthcare.

Which you guys haven't.

That doesn't make me convinced to go over there if you guys are not keeping up to your bargain.

- These federal workers have suffered enough.

Who are we to act in the same manner as we so loathe from the executive branch and deny these federal workers their paychecks and their jobs and their stability?

- I would say that people's lives and people who depend on Medicare for like everyday healthcare needs that they can't live without, that is worth more than anyone's job.

- There is no way for you Democrats to be able to get seven of us to join your side.

You sitting here and being stagnant is not going to solve the problem.

- Stay, move.

Let's see where we're at.

You want the budget, you don't want the budget.

We have a shifting, right?

A far greater sense of this class wants something new.

Tristan, what were you saying?

- While I agree with the budget proposed by the Democrats, to assume that now that the government is shut down, that the Republicans are gonna be the ones to come to the table, I think, is really foolish and is going to really hurt the Democratic Party's ability to get elected further in the future.

- I do agree with Tristan.

Unfortunately, I think he is right.

But I will say that I think that Medicare is our best bet.

People who vote Republican and their constituents might actually like lean towards: "Well, maybe you should go against party lines for this."

That might be something that could switch things up.

- We'll keep this up and just see where this goes.

Appreciate you all.

There's a palpable sense of, I think, tension in our current state of government, in our current state of politics.

It is binary.

You're over here or you're over there.

And they're seeing it in a more combative light.

(soft music) Here you go.

- [Mom] Look up to the left side, to this side.

And then... - Ooh, there you go.

Good, good.

Oh, good stop.

Our oldest, his name is Bodie.

He is nine.

He is in fourth grade.

He loves sports, specifically the sport teams that I like.

Which is great.

There you go.

He's like a knucklehead through and through, but he's awesome.

We love him.

Do you guys have a team captain yet?

- [Bodie] Um, no.

- No?

How you guys gonna pick a team captain?

- Um... I think I'm gonna pick it.

- [Miten] Like you get to pick the team captain?

- Yeah, it's gonna be me.

- And our youngest, Amia, and she is six and she's in first grade.

She's our rule follower.

She's our sassy one.

But, yeah, she keeps us on our toes.

- So if I was in charge of the house, I would make all of you guys pay for a new swing set.

- If mommy was team captain, ooh, we'd be eating a lot more healthier food.

- [Amia] What?

No!

No, I would refuse!

I would refuse!

- We'd all go to bed at 6:00 p.m.

- Okay, you're gonna make us go to bed at 6:00 p.m.?

- You know, it's just good to kind of talk to them about like what leadership is and at least right now is on the end of the spectrum of what like they want from the I perspective.

"I want this, I want that."

Ready?

There's parallels to their life to kind of like what's going on right now as well.

What is leadership?

How do you choose leadership?

When they're asking me about stuff that's going on with our current government, you know, I'll tell them, you know, in a manner that a six-year-old or a nine-year-old can understand, and they'll have to come to their own conclusion.

I don't want my kids or my students thinking that they have to think like me.

It's not my job to tell them what to think, how to think.

It's: "You should think, you should know, "and you should understand on your own."

Good.

- Yay!

- [Miten] My sister is coming in this weekend as like a surprise visit.

- Hi!

- Still me, not you!

- Oh, I get third, I get third, I get third.

- Do I get second?

- Yeah, if you guys play, just play gently.

I'm gonna bring these in.

I am, I have to bring this in.

Ba brought samosas.

Will you help warm these up?

- Yeah, okay.

- [Bodie] Bottom of the ninth.

- [Miten] Here we go.

- [Bodie] Bases loaded.

- You'll warm 'em up?

- Can you?

- What temperature?

My relationship to my mom is in the kitchen and helping her out.

Like food is like obviously a huge part of our culture, and it's a big part of like her life.

It's fun engaging with her like in that space.

What'd you do for lunch?

- Nothing.

- Oh my god.

So you're hungry.

Okay.

- [Ba] Good?

- Yeah, plenty of time, plenty of time.

My family is from India.

After my mom and my dad got married in the early '70's, they immigrated to London for job opportunities there.

- If you look at the journey of our parents, he had a choice.

"Do I stay in India?"

We would've never been in the U.S.

'cause he probably would've stayed in India for the rest of his life.

"Or do I make a better life for myself "in a developed country?"

That's why he chose that London route.

And then they totally enjoyed the first five years when I was born.

And then they were pregnant with you.

- [Miten] They had to make up for you.

- [Sister] And then mom's like: "Dude, I can't take care of two kids here."

So then dad's like: "Hey, I have a sister that lives in Florida.

"Maybe she'll sponsor us and we'll come to the U.S."

- I don't remember Florida at all.

I remember Rogers Park.

I was a British citizen until 2007.

I remember my dad, I came home one time for dinner, and he had a stack of papers for me.

"You should apply for citizenship."

And I filled out the paperwork, and I got my name and a date scheduled to go down to the federal courthouse in Chicago.

I remember I had to take a test, and I passed that.

It was great.

And then they like swear you in, and it's this beautiful ceremony in the courthouse.

And I just remember at the end of it the judge went around and shook everyone's hand and said, "Congratulations, this is no small feat, "and we hope you don't take it for granted."

Perhaps like my family is one way that this democracy should and can like function.

Our system is well built for all different types of people to participate in.

My life would be remarkably different if I wasn't here, if I didn't grow up here, if I didn't go to school here.

- [Sister] She had ordered that, ended up paying like $15.

- Hey, guys.

Food's on.

So Ba made these with auntie at her house.

- Some rolled dough, roll it.

- You're better than me.

Mine don't come in circles.

- [Ba] Better than you?

- [Mom] Yeah.

- So I graduated college in the early 2000s, and I went to go work for Chase Bank.

And I did that for a couple of years.

And I had that like moment of reflection as young adults maybe do.

I'm like, "Can I do this forever?"

And the answer was no.

So I packed and I left Chicago, and I moved out west to California.

And I worked for Fortune magazine.

And ended in a very similar way as Chase Bank did.

And then I was like, "Well, what can you do, "you know, for a longer time?"

And I thought I was like, you know, "Teaching would be, I think, a fun job to have.

"And I think I could do it well."

And it was really just like a quick decision.

I was like, "All right, I'm gonna go back to grad school," and I got my teaching degree and have been teaching since 2010.

(soft music) As a student, I was probably one of the the harder students in, I would say, a lot of the classes that I was in.

I can say without hesitation, like every teacher that I've had never gave up on me.

Like they were... They would make sure that I, you know, did what I needed to do and probably saw more in me than I ever saw of myself.

Sorry, I get always choked up talking about this.

I remember my fourth grade teacher, Ms.

Sofianas, she gave me a hug at the end of the year.

I'd never been hugged by a teacher before, not that I remember.

And she was just like, "I'm so proud of you "for all the progress you made."

Ian, just grab a seat wherever.

I guess there's an open spot.

Teachers, I can say outside of family, teachers who have been like the backbone of any aspect of success that I like have ever had.

Chase, how are you?

I wanna make sure that I pay it forward.

Happy Wednesday afternoon.

We're gonna run yes, no, maybes.

How does a federal agency come into existence?

Allegra, what do you got?

And then Tru.

- Doesn't like the House of Representatives like vote for it?

- [Miten] And if you say House, keep going with that.

Who else?

Remember, Congress is bicameral.

- And the Senate.

- Thank you.

Yeah, that's it.

Allegra hits it right on the head.

Congress is the only entity of this structure of government that we have that the Constitution reflects that can create a federal agency.

The reason I bring that up is because the one that we're talking about today is Health and Human Services.

The Department of Health and Human Services protects the health of all Americans and provides essential human services.

And you have Robert F. Kennedy who runs the Health and Human Services Department.

You're gonna hear from him in a second.

The current position, or the current debate, is actually the government is saying: "We should have less government control "over federal agencies like Health and Human Services.

"In fact, we should kick things over to the states."

- [Reporter] Turmoil at the CDC.

The debate over the federal government's vaccine policy remains as contentious as ever.

Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.

's combative appearance.

- You know, the timeliness of the topic that we talked about, you know, vaccines and this idea, this balancing act, this dance between like the federal government and the power that they have and the states and the power that they have.

And this is like a pillar of the class, like it's content, AP test prep, and then the relevancy of the course.

Like why do we learn any of this stuff?

Our question is pretty simple.

Can someone just do me a solid and just kind of read the pre-vote question for me?

- Should federal agencies like HHS and CDC have greater control over vaccination guidelines in the 50 states?

- [Miten] Okay, how many no's?

- Zero.

- [Miten] Zero.

How many maybes?

- Two.

- [Miten] Say again?

- Two.

- Two!

All right, we got 15 yeses, we have three no's, and we have nine maybes.

All right, this is a great starting point.

When you're in these like small group discussions, listen with intention.

- He believes that vaccines will give you autism.

- [Miten] There has been just like a fundamental breakdown from adults to have respectful, civil dialogue with one another about important government-level topics.

- And, number one, who get up and argue with Congress like that in front of millions of other people.

That is so dangerous 'cause they're refusing to address the information that's been backed up.

- So they can turn on the news at any given time and just like the tone and just the hate that adults sometimes present from their side upon the other side.

Us adults are maybe not the best role models for this younger generation to sort of have some of those discussions.

- With COVID, people were scared of the vaccination.

They thought like the government was implanting like a chip in them.

And then imagine like the government was forcing you to get that vaccination.

I think that would feel inhumane.

- The government, what they should do is do what a doctor would do, which is give you the statistics, tell you absolutely everything about the vaccine.

- How do the students engage with each other respectfully and actually engage, like talk and share out ideas and like, you know, establish positions?

It's not about changing someone's mind.

It's not even maybe about like trying to emphasize your point of view and maybe why you're right.

But maybe the goal is: "Let me just hear what the person sitting across me "or the group of people sitting across me, "why they think that way."

They're not against you.

They just have a different set of ideas.

Let's go to Question 2 at the bottom of the page.

What is something that you heard that you just found interesting?

- I didn't change my vote, like I kept yes, but I could totally see why people put no or maybe.

Just because like it goes against some people's religions to like actually get vaccinated.

- Yes, the CDC should have more control just 'cause they're more educated and they can better speak on those topics.

- Conversations have gotten hard in AP Gov & Politics.

It's not all, "Oh, Patel told me to be nice "when I hear an opinion that isn't one of my own."

Like that's just not the case, right?

These are still young adults, and they have strong feelings about who they are, what they want, and why they deserve it.

I showed this, and some of you like ahhed and groaned and maybe snickered a little bit.

This is a result of the election.

Like this is it, right?

Like we had an election in a very democratic sort of way in 2024.

If this isn't the direction that you want, then I suggest: do something for the next election that you can viably vote in.

Like that's why we take this class, so you learn about it and then you know what to do when the time's right.

I love being a part of this class, and this is exactly why.

So thank you all for that.

(students chatter) (soft music) - Really?

I'm Daniel Biss.

I have the honor of serving as Mayor of Evanston, which I've been doing since May of 2021.

One of the best roles that an elected official can play, and I've always loved doing this, is basically kind of the translator, right?

The system is confusing.

Even though Mr.

Patel teaches it very well.

The system is opaque.

You can feel like, "I don't know!

"I want the world to be different, "but what exactly am I supposed to do "to effectuate that outcome?"

- [Miten] So the students will have an opportunity to talk to what I consider to be a very high-ranking government official about their job, their positions, their stance on a variety of topics.

- And an elected official, if they're doing their job well, can be a kind of translator who brings people behind the curtain and then empowers them to advocate, rather than just saying, "I got this."

Governing in community.

- [Miten] The best thing about it is: once Mayor Biss gets here and the students are looking at him, like I kind of just melt into the background.

The students take over.

- Questions about nonprofit, Northwestern.

We had the whole Ryan Field deal which went through despite the neighbors around Ryan Field almost wholly being against it.

- [Miten] Northwestern University is building this huge new stadium in Evanston, and students that live in and around that stadium are affected by it.

- Also seeing them buying up increasingly large amounts of property in Evanston.

And they're non-profits so it's non-taxable.

I'm just trying to rectify the imbalances between fighting corporations but also kind of letting Northwestern walk over Evanston a little bit.

- Yeah, no I couldn't disagree more, though I love you.

We've existed next to Northwestern for 150 years, and we got more out of the deal to build the football stadium than the city got out of the university literally the entire 150 years combined.

This is a change that is controversial, that not everyone will like, but that, on net, I think will do great things for Evanston.

- I live right next to Ryan Field.

And I know I used to live and we moved out because of construction.

'Cause it was affecting us.

This would be the same size as United Center.

But if you look at the United Center, there's parking lots all around it.

And we're just placing something that size right next to the neighborhood when the Land Use Commission doesn't even allow that?

- You know, like I said, I think it is an issue that not everyone's gonna agree on, and I just think it's one of those tough balancing acts.

You know, this is what governing is, it's about making tough calls, and I think the upsides on this are really, really significant and important for the community.

And the downsides are real but I think ultimately mitigated to a place where, in my opinion, the balance is that we landed in a spot that's gonna be really excellent for Evanston.

- My question is: what are your ideas where the line is drawn between citizens like defending themselves against ICE and between where like protestors and citizens are like being violent to ICE and like... - [Miten] The immigration raids, they're happening right in our backyard at Evanston Township High School.

- What are your ideas around protecting citizens' rights while obviously not just allowing people to attack others?

- Yeah, it's a really hard question, and it's a really important question, right?

For example, one question I get a lot is: these federal agents were beating up Evanston residents and yet the police, Evanston Police didn't like handcuff them.

I feel that emotionally too.

- You could hear it in their voice, like these are questions that they know about but they also care about, and they want to know from someone who can move the needle one way or the other like what could happen.

And they wanted answers.

Like they wanted to hold someone accountable for things that they indeed have a stake in regarding things that are going on in our town.

We really don't take your time for granted.

We really appreciate you being here.

Thank you, Harry.

This type of engagement is important.

They can reach out to their representatives, they can email, they can go to rallies, they can go to speaking events that a candidate might have, and they can ask these same questions.

It doesn't have to just exist because I just happened to like set this up.

This is important, and they could take the reins on it.

(bell rings) Thank you so much.

Thank you, have a great day.

(soft music) Tristan, Ruby, how are you?

- [Tristan] I'm doing all right.

- Good, good, good, good, good.

You look great.

Everyone looks so nice.

- My parents said I could add a tie.

Why not?

- Well, you look awesome.

There's gonna be some great opportunities for us to learn all this stuff.

Hey, Remy!

And it's not gonna take place at Evanston Township High School.

Let's get off campus, let's kind of see how this stuff works.

We're gonna go to the federal courthouse in downtown Chicago.

It's gonna be a lot busier down there today.

The state is suing Trump for the federalization of those National Guard troops, and that hearing is today.

We are gonna sit down and speak to like a federal judge, but the federal judge that we're gonna talk to is not the federal judge that's overseeing the hearing today.

So I'm gonna ask our contact to see if we can sit in on that hearing and be a part of it.

All right!

This way, this way, this way, this way.

- [Student] Which one?

- [Miten] No, I might just sit next to people.

- [Intercom] Caution: the doors are about to close.

- We didn't really know this until shortly before we left, that the courthouse was gonna listen to oral arguments in "Illinois v.

Trump."

I think the kids were really energized by the fact that the weight of a hearing like that while they're there, I think they're really excited about that.

Hey all, let me just do a quick count, and then I'll kind of walk us out to Madison Avenue.

One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine.

22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28.

The purpose of any field trip is to do a couple things, experience things related to this class in a different environment, get kids outside of the classroom.

Follow me, follow me, follow me!

But, secondly, most importantly, it's a part of our government.

It's a part of our systems and structures.

And the students get to see that firsthand.

That's way better than either me telling them or them reading it in a textbook.

All right, y'all, let's go.

So the troops are here to protect federal agents, which are ICE, that's who they're referring to.

And the troops are here to protect federal buildings.

And under those reasons, he's saying that's why you gotta call the National Guard.

And Pritzker, his argument is like: "Like you're causing all this chaos "and then calling up troops to do it."

So we'll see how this plays out.

Dirksen Building!

23, 24, 25, 28.

Perfect.

- [Aide] All right, everybody, our speaker for today is gonna be Judge Kennelly.

Judge Kennelly is a district court judge here at the Northern District of Illinois.

- So I'm a federal district court judge.

I've been a judge since 1999.

Federal district judges are appointed for life.

We do all types of cases, both civil and criminal.

So that's just kind of a general overview of what we do.

- Where do you get the information that you use to like learn about the case beforehand?

- [Thomas] They submit it.

- Okay.

- Parties file.

I'm not allowed to go out and hunt down information on my own.

You could think, you know, there could be a system in which I could just go kind of figure out what's going on in the case, I just look it up on the internet or whatever.

You're supposed to learn the case from what the parties tell you.

And the reason for that, or one of the reasons for that, is that if I'm going out and looking up information on my own, first of all, it might be wrong.

Okay?

And, second of all, nobody knows that I'm doing it, so the party that it doesn't favor doesn't ever have a chance to react to it.

- As a federal judge like with a good amount of power, how do you not let bias get in the way of making a good decision?

- What I try to do is I try to listen carefully to both sides.

I try to give both sides a chance to be heard.

I give each side a chance to respond to the other side's arguments.

I don't just say when I rule on a case: you win or you lose.

I explain why.

We wanna write our decisions in a way that both sides, when they read the decision, now understand that we got what they were arguing, we understand what they were arguing, we considered what they were arguing, and we explained to them why we either approved or rejected whatever they were saying.

Another way of putting it is: you want the losing party to know why they lost.

- Have you ever regretted a ruling that you've made?

- [Miten] The students wanted to know more about what Judge Kennelly does and how he sort of even operates on the bench.

- Are you obligated to make a ruling or can you like hold off on a decision if there's like insufficient evidence?

- [Miten] They're asking these really great, insightful questions.

Best experience for a teacher to be a part of, their students acting in such a manner that highlights their curiosity.

- I can ask for more evidence.

I think you had a question.

- What's the process of making a ruling against like the actions of the president?

Like which has happened a couple times this year.

- I've had a couple of those cases, and they're pending now, so I can't really talk about 'em.

Honestly, they're like any other case.

They get a lot more attention.

Usually, in my cases... I have three law clerks, three of these younger lawyers working for me.

Usually in my cases, one law clerk works on a case.

In those cases, they're all working on it because they're so important.

- I know you guys were wondering about the hearing that is going on in the building with the government, and there was no room in the second overflow when I went up there.

So there is really no chance for you guys to go in and watch unless people have come and gone.

But a group of the size, there's just no space to watch at this point.

- I think it would've been really cool for students to hear that specific case, "Illinois v. Trump," and they would've been able to hear both sides presented in open court like that.

What better of an experience can a young adult have to see this whole democratic experiment sort of take place?

(soft music) (bell tolls) Anna, how are you?

- [Anna] Hey, I'm good.

How are you?

- Darn right we're good.

Cubs won 6-0 last night.

- [Anna] Wow.

- Yeah.

I want to talk to you all about some like really important things that took place while some of us were at the federal courthouse yesterday.

The state of Illinois sued President Trump for the deployment of those National Guard troops from Texas to Illinois and also the almost deployment of Illinois National Guard.

But this is not something that Illinois wants morally, ethically.

Rina?

- Would this like ruling be temporary or would it be like something that's like, I don't know, like set in stone and won't be changed?

- There was a ruling.

I'll walk you through that ruling.

It's really not all that complicated.

(dramatic music) - Hey, Joe and Erica.

Federal judges ordered the National Guard to stand down, at least for now.

This temporary restraining order goes into effect immediately and lasts at least two weeks.

- So Rina, back to your question: the U.S.

government and President Trump will definitely appeal this.

But instead of a single judge, it's gonna be a three-judge panel, a three-judge panel, and you need simple majority for that judge panel to like overrule what Judge Perry sort of ruled yesterday.

Jack?

- So like assuming we could prove that like not only was it like unnecessary but it was like disruptive and like kind of destructive in a lot of our communities, could like there be grounds for like punishment?

And what would that look like?

- Great question.

The state of Illinois won, at least right now.

President Trump and the government maybe lost.

Is there a punishment for that?

Probably not.

Students are seeing it going through the process as it should.

It's not like the National Guard troops are in the streets sort of disobeying a federal court order.

They're staying put and waiting for clarity from the courts to say one thing or another.

None of this matters, guys, none of this matters, honestly, if you don't vote.

And the process is so simple, I wanna walk you through it right now.

I was going through my roster, and there's a fair amount of students that will be able to vote in the primary in Evanston.

A part of this class is to get them quite literally equipped to exercise the most important part of this democracy, which is their right to vote.

Eliza, this blue line is you and those of your age group.

This is the most recent statistics on voter turnout by age.

This blue line is you all.

Historically and consistently, and I mean this in the most loving, supportive way I can ever say this, you all vote far less than any other age group out there.

All of you at the beginning of the year did some hokey extra credit for me.

What do you care about?

You wrote all these wonderful things.

"I care about this, I care about that, I care about this.

"My government's failing me."

I asked you that question.

It was a pretty much a unanimous statement: "The government is failing me based on what I care about."

The only way to move that needle, and I mean this, is to change this, to change these statistics.

Voting for members of the House, voting for senators, voting for governors, voting for local politicians is just as important.

We can end class chilling out, hanging out, listening to Jimmy Buffett, and we can register you to vote.

That's why we're in this class in my opinion, first and foremost.

It has nothing to do with the grade.

Our democracy doesn't work without knowledgeable citizens who then, when the time is appropriate and allowed, vote.

There's a due date on this.

What is the due date, Miriam?

Voting is the key to the way our democracy functions, and it's gonna be the key to the way our democracy like survives.

'Cause you ate a cookie.

- Yeah, yeah.

- For those of you that ate a cookie or drank lemonade, you made a contractual agreement to vote when the time is appropriate.

Asher, how was your cookie?

I think what gives me hope about the country that my students or even my children are gonna inherit is they like the fact that there is a actual process of engagement.

Engagement in this democracy is imperative.

It's required.

I'm walking around if anyone needs help.

If there's one thing I want the students to know is that this is a 24/7, 365 type of citizen requirement to making sure that this whole democracy is functioning as it is.

Have a safe, have a fun, have an enjoyable homecoming weekend.

I'll see you all, Go Cubs.

I'll see you all on Wednesday.

(soft music)