Following their week visiting with local candidates in the runup to the election, Wayne High School’s New Tech Academy’s government class took time Monday to reflect on the election and how those conversations with candidates affected them.
Senior government students invited several local candidates into their classroom to ask questions and have discussions, ahead of the election. Now that it’s passed, those students are considering how it will affect them.
For Cash, who wasn’t yet old enough to vote in this election, it was interesting to learn more about how important it is for candidates to run, and win, on a shared platform.
“So, a lot of it was like ‘you have to vote for this person in order for me to be able to accomplish what I want to accomplish,’" he said. "So that was kind of seeing how the chain effect goes down from state government, federal government, how that runs down to the local officials.”
Jackson, who was able to vote in this election, said it’s also nice to meet the candidates in person, or virtually in some cases, and get a better understanding of their character and how they hold a room.
“It’s like a name or a face on a TV and you don’t really know who they are, but then you get to really, like, shake their hand and really see what they really think and how they present themselves and how they would run a city or a state," he said.
Another first time voter, Jordan said being too young to vote had left her mostly uninterested in politics and from being involved in even the local level.
“I was actually interested in the topics and what was going on for the election looking more local, I think I do want to and will get involved in that," she said.
The class also discussed their feelings about the presidential election, with some splits on opinions in the group, and also how to improve those conversations with candidates for next year’s class.
