{"id":212606,"date":"2026-06-04T04:39:53","date_gmt":"2026-06-04T04:39:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/what-graduating-high-school-seniors-think-about-todays-world-in-their-own-words-cascadia-daily-news\/"},"modified":"2026-06-04T04:39:53","modified_gmt":"2026-06-04T04:39:53","slug":"what-graduating-high-school-seniors-think-about-todays-world-in-their-own-words-cascadia-daily-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/what-graduating-high-school-seniors-think-about-todays-world-in-their-own-words-cascadia-daily-news\/","title":{"rendered":"What graduating high school seniors think about today\u2019s world, in their own words – Cascadia Daily News"},"content":{"rendered":"

As political conversations get more polarized, young people notice.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>
In two conversations between graduating high school seniors in Whatcom and Skagit counties, facilitated by Cascadia Daily News with support from Western Washington University\u2019s Ralph Munro Institute, many students said they feel nervous sharing their political beliefs. The tenor of political conversations affects their interest in politics and their faith in institutions. They want to see a return to civility.\u00a0<\/span>
But they also want to engage with their peers. They want to understand why people think differently than they do. And they find hope in their communities and in each other.\u00a0<\/span>
Every year, Cascadia Daily News covers high school graduation, striving to highlight the momentous occasion when thousands of teenagers across our region take their first big step into adulthood. This year, avoiding politicized issues seemed impossible. The students told us that some of the major issues of our time are shaping their lives. And what is public school for, if not educating the next generation of informed citizens?\u00a0<\/span>
CDN decided to dive head-first and invite graduating seniors from around Whatcom and Skagit counties to participate in conversations that were intentionally political. We\u2019re grateful to the school districts around our region for not shying from the challenge and helping us identify students for this opportunity.\u00a0<\/span>
We tasked students with thinking about three major topics: artificial intelligence, affordability and climate change. And we asked them directly how they navigate the political polarization of their times.\u00a0<\/span>
Ralph Munro Institute Director Kate Destler, who helped moderate these discussions, said that the students \u201cwelcomed\u201d the opportunity to discuss political challenges, but acknowledged that it was hard to have these kinds of conversations and sometimes did not know how to engage.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>
\u201cThere was, nonetheless, a hunger for conversation across differences,\u201d Destler said in an email. \u201cStudents expressed dismay at occasions where their peers had been targeted by others on the basis of their political beliefs and spoke proudly of occasions when they had been able to forget and sustain connections across ideological lines.\u201d\u00a0<\/span>
We encourage our readers to take some time to hear directly from our youth about how our world and our politics impact them every day.<\/span>
This Q&A is a compilation of conversations between Whatcom County high school seniors and Skagit County seniors that took place on two Saturdays in May. Responses have been lightly edited for length and clarit<\/i>y.
To read more about participating seniors, click here<\/a>.<\/em>
Mount Baker
Lynden
Ferndale
Nooksack Valley
Bellingham
Anacortes
Sehome
Meridian
Burlington-Edison
Lummi Nation
Sedro-Woolley
Mount Vernon
Squalicum
La Conner
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Listen to more of the conversation about [xxxxx] with [xxxxx] County students below.
Question goes here?
Answer 1
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School
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Answer 2
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Answer 3
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Do you consider yourself politically engaged?
Yes
Lynden
Meridian
Nooksack Valley
Anacortes
Burlington-Edison
Mount Vernon
No
Sehome
Squalicum
Lummi Nation
Bellingham
Ferndale
Mount Baker
Sedro-Woolley
La Conner
For those who said yes, what does being politically engaged mean to you?<\/strong>
To put yourself out there in a political setting.<\/span><\/span>
Trying our best to participate in the democratic process. For students, pre-registering to vote is really great.<\/span>
I’m a school board rep, so that’s been an opportunity for a lot of civic engagement. We (Logan and Ashley) both actually went down to the Capitol during the legislative session. We were lobbying for better school funding.<\/span>
I\u2019m 17. I\u2019m not able to vote yet, but I will be soon. Still, I try to keep myself engaged with local news … I\u2019ve also been part of a couple of protests about some political matters.<\/span>
I think I have this inherent curiosity, and the people around me push me to want to be politically involved and understand what\u2019s happening. I think it means to try to look for those sources, be engaged in news and wanting to participate.<\/span>
In the Harvard Youth Poll last year, 47% of youths said they avoided political conversations because they worried about how others would react. Does that resonate?<\/strong>
It\u2019s scary how much the climate around politics is so aggressive to each other. It’s very off-putting for me.<\/span>
I think people have gotten much more polarized, but that has also led those groups, people that are in the middle, to participate less and be less politically active. It\u2019s a bit of a hostile environment at times.<\/span>
I’ve had quite the opposite experience. Pretty much all my friends in the school lean a different way than I do, and it leads to a lot more discussions. We’ve gotten to the point where it’s like, you can have your opinion, I can have my opinion, and we still love each other, no matter what.<\/span>
Ashley, it sounds like you\u2019ve reached a really great place with friends, where you\u2019re not shying away from political issues or conflict. How did you manage that?<\/strong>
In my government class, we went through an entire unit on learning how to listen. I think my friends and I, that’s just how we are. We just slowly started talking about little things, like within the school. We had an anti-ICE protest \u2014 it started with that. One thing I told my friends was \u2018Hey, if you’re going to take part in that, just do it safely,\u2019 showing that the love I have for them is much greater than our political beliefs. <\/span>
I’ve had a similar experience to Ashley, where a lot of my friends have really opposite beliefs. I think when you go into discussions, you just have to recognize that fundamentally, you do believe in the same things. We all want the best for ourselves. We all want the best for the people that we care about. We all want the best for our country or our environment. We might just have a different way of going about that.<\/span>
D<\/span>o you feel like students at your schools, on the whole, are politically engaged?<\/span>
A lot of them do feel disconnected from the process, how their vote doesn’t really seem to matter because there’s so many votes. I think a lot of them have really strong political beliefs, but they’re not willing to take the extra step and actually become involved.<\/span>
A lot of people talk about politics because it’s something that social media talks about a lot. They form such solid opinions on something, but that’s what’s trending on social media.<\/span>
One thing I try to tell myself with social media is, if you lean left, your social media is going to show side A, and then if you lean right, social media is going to show side B. Your algorithm is going to show exactly what you want, and the only way to get away from that is to have those discussions with people.<\/span>
Do you feel like you hear people\u00a0<\/span>share\u00a0<\/span>differing beliefs in your classes?<\/span>
I think it’d be strange to assume that everyone had the same beliefs, but they’re just not willing to express them, especially if it goes against what people are saying, because they don\u2019t want to be seen as wrong or seen as argumentative.<\/span>
In ASB (Associated Student Body), we always have to be careful about what we say in our posts or our assemblies, because of our community. They can get very vocal and it affects our schools. We just had our levy pass so we don\u2019t lose teachers\u2019 jobs, and it barely passed.<\/span>
This year at (Lucille Umbarger) middle school, there was an incident where a young lady, her significant other had political beliefs, and there was a physical confrontation because of her significant other’s beliefs. This girl was beat up in the locker room by other students. That’s painful to me. This is causing violence.<\/span>
The students split up into groups to have<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>discussions about three topics: artificial intelligence, <\/span>affordability<\/span>\u00a0and climate change. They came back to the larger group to share their\u00a0<\/span>thoughts<\/span>.<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span>
On artificial intelligence<\/span><\/span>
I think it’s definitely here to stay. Everybody knows it’s here, but some people don’t want to accept that it’s here. And to some extent, I feel for them. I am planning on being a computer scientist, so that will be a very big part of my career.<\/span>
I’m very interested in biotech, and AI can have so many helpful uses in that field, and that’s what I’m excited about. I also think there are some places where it might not be so prevalent, like music. There may be a rise in live music, especially in classical music that I play.<\/span>
At my school, I feel like a lot of people use AI for a shortcut for assignments or essays and tests. A lot of teachers tell the class that a lot of the AI stuff’s wrong, but I like doing it just to kind of compare and contrast.<\/span>
I kind of live in fear of AI. I feel like in high school and in education, especially when you’re developing your brain still, AI is really harmful. When you’re just using it as a shortcut, you’re skipping through basic fundamentals. Also, AI takes a lot of water. I’m wondering how that\u2019s going to affect our climate.<\/span>
I have a different approach to it because I\u2019m fully in college [at Running Start]. In a lot of my classes, they support AI use, but they just tell us to use it responsibly. [In asynchronous classes] I use it to support my learning a lot, like I essentially teach myself a lot of the material. It’s just that it does affect our environment a lot.<\/span>
I don\u2019t like how AI is taking over careers. My original career I really wanted to go into was graphic design, and it’s taking a hit right now because of AI. So I had to change my major at Grand Canyon University because I was worried about the future of that.<\/span>
I’ve quite a few teachers that will use AI to create assignments, which can be frustrating because sometimes it’s hard to understand what they’re asking from the assignment because it’s not coming directly from them. It’s in ChatGPT\u2019s words.<\/span>
Listen to more of the conversation about artificial intelligence with Skagit County students below.
O<\/span>n affordability<\/span>
I’m a child of a single mom, so we only have one income in our house. That has made things a lot harder for us, especially with the current cost of everything. The word affordability being used as a buzzword has made it almost hollow, just like total semantic bleaching. And people can use it to almost as like a tool to sway people from one side to the other.<\/span>
While things are expensive, I also believe we live in the land of opportunity. There’s always more ways to make money, whether that’s side hustles or getting another job or working more hours. And I think everybody is capable to get to make more money. It’s putting yourself out there to find opportunities. <\/span>
I agree with you that we do live in a very privileged place where we are able to have those opportunities to have other side jobs and work several jobs at once. But I think that the fact that people have<\/em> to work several jobs at once to support themselves is just not sustainable.<\/span>
I’m going to have two jobs this summer. But should you have to? Education is kind of like a fundamental part of life. And putting food on the table is a fundamental part of life. Should you have to bend over backwards just to get that? I would say no. I think the fact that you need more than a 9-to-5 to get by in a lot of circumstances is kind of a flaw in the system.<\/span>
I get where you guys come from. I grew up with a single dad, and I was homeless growing up for a majority of my life, until I moved out at 14. I also believe that when you are put in a situation where you are low income, or whatever situation you could be in, that gives you more of a drive to do more to make more money.<\/span>
I think affordability in the next 5-10 years is going to be a lot harder, especially with AI. With jobs, they won’t hire because AI will do it … I want to live here, but it’s going to be really hard.
Listen to more of the conversation about affordability with Whatcom County students below.
On climate change
It\u2019s very overwhelming to think about, because global warming and climate change is very much outside of who we are as an individual. You can be like, I\u2019ll walk to school today, but then almost everyone else is going to take some other form of transportation. And like, how much of me doing one thing is really going to impact the situation? That kind of mindset can drive one away from actually taking any action or doing anything.<\/span>
I feel like being from the Pacific Northwest and having so many different aspects of the environment being really pivotal in our culture \u2014 I think it makes it so that residents see climate and global warming as a big threat, and makes it so that a lot of people want to kind of combat that.<\/span>
In the news, I feel like every year we pass another climate tipping point. Whenever I’m talking to older folks, they’re like, \u2018Oh, you’re gonna change the world. You’re gonna be the future. You’re gonna fix our planet, because we screwed it up so bad.\u2019 I feel like there’s a huge expectation on teens to go and fix the climate.<\/span>
Listen to more of the conversation about climate change with Skagit County students below.
How much faith do you have in our political system today?<\/span><\/span>
When it comes to the federal government, we want to have faith, but we don’t.<\/span>
One thing that I think is very interesting that I’ve learned about in my civics class is that people have been using a lot stronger language and stronger imagery when they’re running [for office], and that evokes a lot of really strong emotions, and that turns people against each other on opposite sides of the political spectrum.<\/span>
It seems like more personal attacks are being taken which makes the stability and authority of the government decline. Looking outside of government actions, looking towards political violence and the rise of that \u2014 that reflects the lack of faith.
As soon as you vote one person in, they’re just going to do everything for that side. To really make any effect, you\u2019ve got to get a lot of people who really care about something.<\/span>
Democracy gets its power from the people, and if you have an apathetic population, then democracy is going to fail. I do think there has been a recent trend in certain pieces of legislation disenfranchising a lot of people. So, there is an element of that.<\/span>
What brings you hope?<\/span><\/span>
Things like this \u2014 knowing that there are people in my generation who actually want to come together and talk about these things and to learn about these things.<\/span>
Talking without disrespecting each other and agreeing to disagree \u2014 coming together to just talk about our experiences.
Voting feels like taking a true or false question test instead of a multiple choice test, when I wish the answer could be all of the above. I think just going at it open-mindedly and with a positive attitude \u2014 like, let’s fix something. <\/span>
Seeing younger people protesting, expressing what they want and rebelling against what is already happening.<\/span>
The empathy of communities. The flooding, for example, how communities were so quick to band together, to help each other.<\/span>
Being young. We have 60 years, maybe longer. Time is so interesting, and it\u2019s one thing that we can’t get back. We just have so much of it now as young people \u2014 we can do anything.<\/span>
\"\"
Mount Baker<\/em>
Payten played basketball and\u00a0golf, and\u00a0enjoyed shop classes and spending time with friends. After high school, Payten will attend Bellingham Technical College to become an electrician.
\"\"
Lynden<\/em>
Ashley was a student representative on the Lynden School Board, president of the Turning Point USA chapter and treasurer of a Christian club. After high school, she will attend Northwest University in Kirkland to study psychology and sociology.
\"\"
Ferndale<\/em>
Jonas ran track and played tennis. He also was in leadership and drum line and appreciated the communities he found in those activities and his \u201cawesome classmates.\u201d After high school, Jonas will attend the University of Washington to study computer science.
\"\"
Nooksack Valley<\/em>
Chloe was in 11 plays, and played in the pep band, concert band, jazz\u00a0band\u00a0and bluegrass band. They also sang for the Valley Voices choir. After high school, Chloe will attend Whatcom Community College to pursue an associate degree in music, with plans to transfer to Western Washington University to earn a degree in music education.
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Bellingham<\/em>
Mia was involved in theater and leadership. She loved working with her peers to create something, whether that be a show or planning homecoming. After high school, Mia will attend Arizona State University and plans to study psychology to become a psychiatrist.
\"\"
Anacortes<\/em>
Colton was involved in speech and debate, tennis and math team. He said he liked that he could try new things, including drama and metalworking. After high school, Colton will attend Stanford University to study symbolic systems (computer science and philosophy).
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Sehome<\/em>
Maria participated in music, orchestra, Science Olympiad and tennis team. She loved the community she found in both activities. After high school, Maria will attend the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to study biochemistry or chemical engineering.
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Meridian<\/em>
Logan was involved in cross country and track, unified basketball, yearbook and leadership. She is also one of two student representatives on the school board. After high school, Logan will attend Wesleyan University to study engineering and political science and run cross country and track.
\"\"
Burlington-Edison<\/em>
Izel was involved in football, wrestling, track, a peer-support program, choir, drama, honors society and more. He said he enjoyed the community and atmosphere of the school. After high school, Izel will complete a pastoral internship and wants to become a youth pastor.
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Lummi Nation<\/em>
Makaya was heavily involved in sports and participated in Running Start at Whatcom Community College. After high school, Makaya will attend the University of Washington to study pre-nursing.
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Sedro-Woolley<\/em>
Isaac was the Associated Student Body president, yearbook chief editor, Varsity in Volunteerism vice-president, RISE student sector representative and part of the National Honors Society. After high school, he will attend Grand Canyon University to study marketing and advertising.
\"\"
Mount Vernon<\/em>
Jahaira was involved in debate, tennis, swim and honors society in high school. She spent more than 200 hours volunteering. She enjoyed spending time with her friends and the community in her school. After high school, Jahaira will attend Vassar College to study physics or political science.
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Squalicum<\/em>
Brycen was involved in mentoring, leadership and the Black Student Union, and was his senior class representative. After high school, Brycen will attend the University of British Columbia in Vancouver to study creative writing and media studies.
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La Conner<\/em>
Isabelle was involved in volleyball, basketball, and track and field. She is executive vice-president of the Associated Student Body and participated in leadership all four years. After high school, she will attend Western Washington University to study early childhood education.<\/p>\n

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As political conversations get more polarized, young people notice.\u00a0\u00a0In two conversations between graduating high school seniors in Whatcom and Skagit counties, facilitated by Cascadia Daily News with support from Western Washington University\u2019s Ralph Munro Institute, many students said they feel nervous sharing their political beliefs. The tenor of political conversations affects their interest in politics […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":212607,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-212606","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world","8":"entry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/212606","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=212606"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/212606\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/212607"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=212606"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=212606"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=212606"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}