PLEASANT GROVE -- Pleasant Grove high students proudly bore "I Voted!" stickers on Tuesday.

Although most of the students are still too young to vote, they participated in a mock election, which was held during lunch at the school. The ballot included the races for mayor and City Council in Pleasant Grove.

John Deans, a government teacher at Pleasant Grove, headed up the project and recruited the help of his classes and the student council to execute it.

"My purpose was to create civic involvement and to help students appreciate opposing viewpoints," Deans said.

Aside from voting, students were educated about the issues through the many speeches given during lunch the previous week. Each government student was required to write and deliver a two-minute speech on a certain issue.

"My assignment was gun control," said Kara Woodbury, a senior at Pleasant Grove. "It was really great to get everyone worked up about political issues. It is important for high school students to be up to date with the current issues."

Some other topics included legalizing marijuana, and even Coke vs. Pepsi.

"I enjoyed listening to the speeches during lunch," said Maggie Boughton. "I tried to listen every day. It made me excited to vote."

And many students did vote. About 200 ballots were counted in Deans's class after the elections.

Students had many reasons for participating in the mock-election.

"I mostly voted for the sticker and mint, and because it is my civic duty," said Jamal Lythgoe.

"I thought it went quite well," Deans said. "It is an off-election year, and it is hard to generate enthusiasm, but the students had a good time while learning what voting is like."