With 67 Percent Of Eligible Students Registered To Vote, Levittown-Area High School Earns Award

A Bristol Township school has earned the Governor’s Civic Award after leading a voter registration drive that got 67 percent of eligible students on the voter rolls during the 2025-2026 school year.

Harry S. Truman High School teacher Olivia Geiger received the recognition from the Bristol Township School Board meeting recently.

The award recognizes Geiger’s partnership with the local chapter of the League of Women Voters, which help conduct the registration drive during student lunch periods, according to Truman Assistant Principal Ted Beatty.

Truman was the only high school in Bucks County to receive the distinction for last school year.

To qualify for the award, a school must register at least 65 percent of its eligible student voting population.

“Ms. Geiger has been recognized for her partnership and collaboration,” Beatty said.

The recognition marks a first for the high school, Beatty said.

“This award will be hung in the lobby at Truman and show it off as a wonderful accomplishment,” he said.

“Helping students find the agency and passion to make the changes they’d like to see in the world is one of the more rewarding parts of my job, and voter education is a huge part of that,” Geiger said, according to the Council for the Advancement of Public Schools.

Geiger credited the school’s supportive administration and staff for making the achievement possible.

The educator noted that she frequently addressed hesitant students with a practical argument.

“I would frequently tell uncertain students that you can always register and choose to not vote, but you can’t wake up on election day and vote without being registered,” Geiger said. “This resonated with a lot of our reluctant students, and I’m glad they took the initiative to register. Hopefully, they will become informed and motivated voters in their adult lives!”

Looking ahead to next year, Geiger said she hopes to aim for the program’s gold award, which requires registering 85 percent of eligible student voters.

Three Truman students received the student version of the Governor’s Civic Award. Beatty recognized the three student recipients during the presentation.

Superintendent Michael Nitti praised the efforts of Geiger and the Truman community.

The registration effort comes amid broader state trends highlighted recently by the nonpartisan Civics Center, an organization dedicated to registering high schoolers when they come of age.

A survey of 30 states conducted by the group found that Pennsylvania had the lowest rate of 18-year-olds registered to vote.

Oregon recorded the highest rate in the survey, with 86 percent of eligible 18 year olds registered.