Meet and greet teen voting advocate Charlotte Powell

Help Bike Rider Make History of Her Own

WCA a stop on her 300-mile journey

Join us as we greet Charlotte Powell, a ninth grader at Pioneer Valley Performing Arts School in South Hadley, MA, who is making a 300-mile bike ride from Massachusetts to Seneca Falls, N.Y. to promote the importance of voting in elections.

She is starting her ride on Wednesday, Oct. 5, and will be stopping at the WCA in mid-afternoon on Friday, Oct. 7, to share her message. (We'll provide a more precise arrival time as her ride progresses on Friday.) 

Charlotte’s goals in making this trip are also to make people aware of the sacrifices made by women in the Suffrage Movement in the early 1900s and to register 100 new voters.

According to her mother, Charlotte was inspired by the Women’s Suffrage Movement in 2019 when she learned about the 100^th anniversary of the 19^th Amendment.  She combined her love of historical costuming to outfit her entire Girl Scout troop in period costumes and organized a 1919-style "Votes For Women" rally on Election Day in 2020. 

Charlotte was discouraged to learn about the lack of voter turnout, particularly among women, and decided to come up with a way to inspire voting.  She also wanted to get healthier and try to accomplish a difficult challenge.  The 300-mile bike ride is her way to do all this.

For safety purposes, her father will ride with Charlotte and her mom will drive alongside to help with equipment and voter registration and other events.

Charlotte plans to reach the National Women’s History Museum in Seneca Falls during the afternoon of Monday, Oct. 10.