Wayzata High School Student Helps Get More Youth to Vote
During an AP English class at Wayzata High School, the students’ ideas are free-flowing. Tuesday’s lesson: trying to determine whether a cheating scandal took place in a certain piece of literature.
“‘Wayward’ is like, he’s a wayward lost soul,” said Wayzata senior Markus Wessman, quoting a piece from the text.
Wessman had no qualms stating his point, as a small debate broke out in class. Fitting, considering his keen interest in politics.
“Absolutely, yeah,” Wessman said, when asked whether he’s passionate about politics. “I think it really started around the 2016 election. Politics aside, it was a fascinating election to watch. And since then, politics have been volatile, to say the least.”
Wessman, however, has more than a passive interest in politics. He is the founder of The Youth Voter Project, it’s a student-led organization dedicated to registering or pre-registering youth throughout Minnesota.
“We recently wrapped up with the end of online voter pre-registration before the 2024 election, and we registered over 1,000 students, which is fantastic,” he said. “And I could have never imagined having that impact.”
Markus Wessman (in the Wayzata sweatshirt), shares a thought in AP English Literature and Composition.
If you talk to staff members at Wayzata, they’ll tell you that he’s a student who puts his ideas into action; as evidenced by his other leadership role — student body president.
“It’s not about accolades for himself,” said Amy Swenson, Wayzata’s student council advisor. “But he really, truly cares about the work that he’s doing and making Wayzata High School a better place, making sure that everyone feels like they belong here.”
Wessman still has about seven more months to go before he graduates, and there’s no doubt that he’ll put in the work to leave his mark.
“I just like to get involved, and I love to do stuff that benefits the Wayzata community,” he said. “That’s kind of been my calling for the past three years, and I’m looking forward to continuing that.”
Wessman says he’s still undecided on a college, but he has plans to major in political science.
Related: CCX Sports Spotlight: Katie Kelzenberg, Wayzata
