Students learn about democracy

In a mock election, Monroe Intermediate School students cast their vote for who they wanted as the next President of the United States of America.

The teachers felt this was a good way to teach the children about the election process.

“We felt students needed the opportunity to voice their opinions and it gave us the chance to teach responsibility that comes with being a citizen,” MIS teacher Lori Hastert said.

Prior to voting on Friday and Monday, the students had the opportunity to research and compare each presidential candidates to determine which one lined up more with what they believed in, Hastert said.

They looked at candidates through a variety of sources, including Channel One News. The students also took an online quiz called “isidewith.” This quiz allowed the students to answer questions about their beliefs.

At the end, the quiz would recommend which candidate the student should support based on their and the candidate’s beliefs.

Hastert said the students talked about the candidates in the classroom and created posters for each candidate based on their platforms. They then hung these posters around the school.

As for the actual voting, the students were excited to cast their vote on a secret ballot. The teachers then counted all of the votes. Hastert said the entire school’s population of 345 students and employees voted.

After all of the votes were counted, the students listened to the results and found out who would win based on the electoral-vote system.

Republican Donald Trump won the election at MIS with 64 percent of the vote, followed by Libertarian Gary Johnson with 14 percent, Democrat Hillary Clinton with 13 percent, and Green Party representative Jill Stein with 8 percent.

The Electoral Vote was 19 for Trump and 1 for Johnson.

“Students were surprised at the landslide victory for Trump,” Hastert said.