More than 1,000 students at Wellington Landings Middle School took part in a mock election on Wednesday, Nov. 2 in the school media center.
It’s an endeavor that takes several months to plan, teacher Theresa Flowers said, and involves student government and parent volunteers.
“The school conducts a mock election every two years,” she said. “Every grade takes part and does different activities that involve researching the candidates and the issues.”
Seventh-grade students learn civics, and thus had a special project with a deeper analysis. They had to complete assignments focusing on where candidates stand on issues.
Activities included: complete a map project about the Electoral College, defend which candidate is best suited to be president, take political quizzes and find their best candidate match, watch a debate and rate the candidates, write a letter to the next president, create an analysis chart based on television commercials and create a political cartoon.
“The election project was created by our seventh-grade team,” Flowers said.
Parent volunteers Maria Richardson, Nancellen Palfenier, Sara Hyams, Marion Goldstein, Adriana Remy and Marisa Falci were poll workers handing out stickers, checking student identification and counting ballots.
Throughout the day, different classes came into the media center to cast their ballots.
Student Government sponsor and civics teacher Miguel Torregrosa played a large part in making the election happen.
“Student Government was responsible for making announcements for two weeks prior to this election,” Flowers said. “They also made announcements that taught the students about who was running for president, vice president and senator. In addition, students got to vote for an eighth-grade party theme and Spirit Week.”
After Flowers’ class voted, they discussed projects by seventh-grade gifted program students. Flowers discussed a political cartoon, “Trump and the Wall,” drawn by Evan Bergeron; Jayna Manohalal presented her essay to the class supporting Hillary Clinton; and Arthur Neltner presented his political cartoon.
Through this series of exercises, Wellington Landings students learned about the voting process and the impact it will have on them through research and experience, Flowers said.
