Taylor Swift dipped her foot into political activism, via social media, when she lobbied young people to vote in the 2018 midterm elections.
And now, some two-and-a-half-years later, the pop superstar’s lengthy Instagram post has inspired a Taylor Swift-related question on a test given to high school students across the US.
That question appeared on the May 3 version of the 2021 AP US Government and Politics exam, which, as you could imagine, caught many teens by surprise.
The Inspiration: Taylor Swift was the subject of a question on a high school AP exam on May 3
‘I opened the free response questions, and the first question was about Taylor Swift, and I was just laughing,’ Texas high school student Alyssa Brown, 18, told CNN.
‘I thought it was pretty cool.’
And it turns out Brown was not alone. Many other students were also pleasantly surprised to see Swift make a cameo during their year-end exam.
Miri Feigin, a junior at a high school in Raleigh, North Carolina, was actually wearing a Taylor Swift 1989 Tour sweatshirt when she took the exam.
‘I am a huge Taylor Swift fan. I’ve been a fan for my whole life,’ Feigin said before sharing that the ‘question sort of boosted my confidence and helped me write a stronger free response.’
her influence: The exam question centered around Swift speaking out about politics for the first time in an Instagram post in October 2018
Jerome White, a spokesperson for the College Board, said the Swift-related exam question asked students to analyze how voter registration laws and procedures can affect civic participation, such as voter turnout.
‘We’re delighted to hear that AP students could relate what they’ve learned in their AP course to what they experience in their daily lives — and in this case, what they’ve read on their Instagram feeds,’ said White.
He went on share that the question will not appear on the upcoming versions of the exam on May 20 and June 3.
Get out the vote: The pop superstar urged young people to get out and vote in the 2018 midterm elections in the US in an effort to elect ‘candidates who will protect and fight for the human rights I believe we all deserve in this country’
Swift had been a notoriously apolitical pop star before she broke her political silence back on October 8, 2018 with her passionate plea to get her millions of fans and followers to vote.
In particular, she singled out and endorsed Democrat Phil Bredesen over Republican Marsha Blackburn in the Tennessee Senate race, which Blackburn ultimately won.
The acclaimed singer-songwriter, 31, talked about how she hardly ever waded into politics, and that she was inspired to voice her opinion in order to vote for candidates who ‘will protect and fight for the human rights I believe we all deserve in this country.’
‘I cannot vote for someone who will not be willing to fight for dignity for ALL Americans, no matter their skin color, gender or who they love,’ she wrote at the time.
Change of heart: The Lover star had been a notoriously apolitical pop star before she posted post a passionate plea for her millions of fans and followers to vote
After urging her fellow Tennesseans to vote for Bredesen, the Folklore star proceeded to urge people to educate themselves on the candidates running in their respective state.
‘For a lot of us, we may never find a candidate or party with whom we agree 100% on every issue, but we have to vote anyway,’ she explained.
She ended by dropping a link to Vote.org.
In the proceeding time since her 2018 political post, Swift has been much more active and open about her politics and the social issues that concern her the most.
Politically conscious: In the proceeding time since her political post in 2018, Swift has been much more active and open about her politics and the social issues that concern her the most