Everyone remembers their first time voting, their first time getting involved in our country’s democratic process. 

So Thursday will be memorable for hundreds of South Florida high school students, thanks to the Miami Heat and one local school’s get-out-the-vote effort. 

Led by Heat mascot Burnie, roughly 700 students from various high schools marched through the campus of Miami Dade College Kendall Campus to the early voting polling place there. 

“It felt great, I mean I just turned 18 a month ago, now I feel like I have more responsibilities now and I want to be a true American,” said Alexander Role, a senior at Coral Reef Senior High. 

“It felt very empowering, like I was able to speak like, my voice and my thoughts just through a vote,” added Camila Alfaro, a student at Westland Hialeah Senior High. 

Her classmate, Joe Ferrer, said, “It feels like you’re doing something right for your country.”

“It was fun, I love using my voice for politics,” said Destiney Branch, a senior at Coral Reef Senior High. 

Miami Heat legend Alonzo Mourning told us this initiative is important to the Heat organization. 

“There’s a lot of people that made tremendous sacrifices for us to have this particular right, some of ‘em even lost their lives,” Mourning said. “So it’s important for the kids to exercise that right and let their voices be heard.”

They’re on the same page at Pembroke Pines Charter High  School. For the tenth election in a row, teachers organized a trip to the polls for the seniors who are eligible to vote. The school is located, conveniently, next door to the library where early voting is taking place. So led by the JROTC flag corps, dozens of students took the short walk to cast their ballots. 

“Honestly, I’m pretty excited,” said senior Nicole Martinez. 

It’s a great milestone, having the right to vote is a great privilege to have,” added senior Jean Paul Madrid. 

Some of the students told us they have issues on their minds. 

“Like you know when it comes to the teachers’ salary in Broward County, that is something that I think is very important and I think we can feasibly pass this so I’m very hopeful about that,” said senior Finn Crosby. 

The young demographic is notoriously apathetic about voting, so it’s encouraging to see so many kids getting involved and perhaps becoming lifelong participants in our democracy.