s soon as Brookline High teacher Linda Markell heard that one of the presidential debates would be in Boston, she got on the phone and spent months trying to get seats for the students in her advanced placement American government class.
She called everyone and anyone associated with the campaigns of Al Gore and George W. Bush. She got nowhere. But, in the end, having the right connection paid off: a student's mother had grown up in Gardner with Hadassah Lieberman, wife of vice presidential candidate Joseph I. Lieberman.
The mother made a couple of calls, and guess who will be sitting at the Park Plaza Hotel tonight watching the debate on a big screen and waiting for candidate Al Gore to return for a big reception? Markell's 28 students, including Julie Loewenberg, whose mother, Deborah Garbose Loewenberg, made the calls.
Although she will be attending the party for Gore, Markell said she wasn't trying to favor any candidate, she just wanted her students to be a part of the process any way they could.
''I cast my first vote for JFK. That was a thrill for me. I felt really a part of this process, that we could do anything. The tide has tremendously changed for young people,'' said Markell, who has been a teacher for 37 years.
''I would like to do something so their first vote will be as memorable as mine.''
Julie Loewenberg said all her classmates are extremely excited. And, although the 17-year-old won't be of legal voting age until January, she said what she does now to inform herself about politics is important.
''It's very important for young people to understand the issues and to understand how the two candidates differ,'' she said. ''That's something a lot of younger kids don't understand. They kind of ask who their parents are voting for. ... Going to the debate sparks interest in presidential elections. ... Four years from now, I will be that much more prone to vote.''
Although Markell's class has achieved a major coup, Markell hasn't stopped pushing.
''I hope my kids will have seats right up front,'' she said. ''And, I hope Teddy Kennedy or [John] Kerry will bring Gore over to meet the students.''
