It’s a new school year for Fina Mendoza, another year of distance learning. Her teacher assigns a Genius Project, letting students pick the topic they’d like to research and present to the class. Since it's an election year and Fina’s congressman father is back in California campaigning for re-election, Fina decides to research voting. Specifically, letting kids younger than 18 cast a ballot.

Real-life Congressman Mark Takano of Riverside, California zooms  with the class to answer questions about youth voting. 

There is also a mystery to be solved: who broke into their classroom, ransacking the backpacks and rifling the teacher’s desk. Fina consults with her detecting partner, a giant orange dog named Senator Something, and talks her sister into accompanying her on a field trip to see if her hunch about the culprit is correct.

There is FREE curriculum for this episode.

THE FINA MENDOZA MYSTERIES is based on the award-winning book "Welcome to Washington Fina Mendoza" by Kitty Felde.

The Fina Mendoza Mysteries are  written and produced by Kitty Felde

Our cast includes: Amy Solano as Fina Mendoza

Monica Vigil as Gabby

 Susan Valot appears as Ms. Greenwood

India Scalione plays Becka

Eddie Pike plays Michael and

Myka Scalione plays Margaret

Laura Stegman appears as Congresswoman Mitchell

And Steve DeVorkin is Senator Something

Hannah Matzecki is our associate producer. Our music is by composer and musician Andrew Barkan. Our logo designer is Imelda Hinojosa. 

The Fina Mendoza Mysteries are based on the book "Welcome to Washington, Fina Mendoza" by Kitty Felde. You can get an autographed copy of the book at our website finamendozamysteries.com.