Gabrielle Soltis
The Newtown High School senior American Government and Politics students have been campaigning as presidential candidates in the hopes of becoming the president of their course. There are four Government classes that are involved in separate elections. The two Honors classes contain six candidates, while the two AP classes each contain three candidates. For each course, half of the candidates represent the Republican party and the other half are Democrats. The candidates take on fictional personas based on the qualities and attributes NHS social studies teacher Candi Dietter, has assigned to them. The students are running against the others within their course level.
Dietter believes that having an actual election gives her students a better understanding of how elections work, rather than reading about them in textbooks.
“More actual learning is going on… They’re living in a campaign,” Dietter said.
Many students have exemplified their commitment in their campaign as a contender for president, and have taken their false personas extremely seriously. Some successful campaigning methods that Dietter has noticed within her classes include the use of social media, especially Instagram, along with the creation of propaganda posters.
Both methods seem to be good at “getting their names out there,” said Dietter, in preparation for voting day which is going to be held on Monday, December 5th.
Students have also resorted to “back-stabbing” the other candidates, and attempting to make their own qualities and possible attributes seem more desirable in contrast to the others. The students are becoming absorbed in the ‘drama’ aspect that is seen in every public election.
“The candidates who tried to speak too early got caught in scandals,” NHS senior candidate Katie Yeaton said. Yeaton, who is running under the name of Slate Hartwell, believes that it is best to “lie low” in the beginning of the election in order to avoid giving out information that could rebound against them to harm their status. As the election progresses, Yeaton and her competitors are beginning to increasingly speak out and use their voices more within the media.
This election is also a reflection of the current 2022 election, and the student candidates have been asked to exemplify the beliefs and qualities of actual candidates. Dietter wants to ensure that none of her students, nor the voters, know which ‘real’ candidate the students are meant to mirror in order to keep the election fair.
“If people knew that this person was supposed to be Donald Trump, they would have completely different opinions just because of the name,” Dietter said.
She wants to keep the election as unbiased as possible, and then compare the results with the results of the current election occurring in the U.S.
“The election has been a great and realistic learning process, the drama included, “ NHS senior Nick Tetreault said. “I’ve done a lot of research on policies and the campaigning process has been a lot of work.”
Tetreault is running for President as candidate Brent Peterson.
Whoever wins the election will become the president of their course level, and be given the opportunity to become more involved in the upcoming projects that their classes will be doing later on in the semester. Results will be posted on the Hawkeye Online after Holiday Break.