The nation is counting down the days until a new president is
elected and 10 high school students are as excited as anyone.
The nation is counting down the days until a new president is elected and 10 high school students are as excited as anyone.
Kanani Pratt, Advanced Placement government and economics teacher at Gilroy High School, will take the group to the presidential inauguration in Washington D.C. in January.
“We’ll have four months of government and then boom, we’re there,” Pratt said.
The students will miss two half days of school in January designated for exams, but they will test ahead of time, Pratt said. The students will spend five days in D.C. visiting Capitol Hill, the White House, the Smithsonian Institution and various other monuments and memorials, culminating in the presidential inauguration. And Democrat or Republican, Green or Libertarian, the students are working hard to raise $2,000 apiece for the trek.
“They won’t be able to vote but they’ll be so into it anyway that they won’t care,” Pratt said, bubbling over with excitement.
There’s no mistaking Tyler Park’s political leanings – he wore his choice on his chest. Park, 17, is a Barack Obama supporter all the way, his T-shirt spelling it out loud and clear.
Although disappointed that he won’t be 18 in time for the election, he’s following the historic election faithfully and especially enjoyed Bill Clinton’s and Obama’s inspiring speeches at the Democratic National Convention.
“Either way, it’s going to be historic,” he said of the presidential election. “We’re either seeing the oldest or the first African American elected, which would be amazing.”
Completely captivated by politics, Park plans to study political science in college and balks at the idea of his generation labeled a dispassionate bunch.
“I don’t think this is a passive generation,” he said. “I’m totally bummed I can’t vote.”
Fellow Obama supporter Alaina Conrad, 17, won’t be able to cast her vote this November either but likes what she hears when Obama speaks.
“The U.S. government needs a bit of a change,” she said. And she thinks Obama is the man for the job. She likes how he’s a “down-to-earth, good-natured guy,” she said.
While most of the students are Obama supporters, Jonathan Higgins, 17, has to work extra hard to keep the debate balanced.
“Young people want change and they associate (John) McCain with (George) Bush,” he said.
Raised in a family of Republicans, he’s drawn to the view that people should take responsibility for their actions and believes that the government should steer away from welfare and social security.
“I prefer private charity to public taxation,” he said.
Higgins also wants a president with experience and reminds his classmates of the decades McCain has spent in politics and the military. Plus, Obama might represent change, but his approach is too broad, Higgins said. Still, he stands alone in many political debates among friends and classmates, he said.
“If I were to start a Young Republican Club here, I’d be the only member,” he joked.
When the political debate gets hot, Pratt is careful not to divulge her presidential pick to her students.
“It wouldn’t be any fun that way,” she said. “I play both sides of the coin.”
She loves watching the debate ensue among her students, she said, and her students are anxiously awaiting the once in a lifetime opportunity.
“Not many people get to say they’ve seen the presidential inauguration,” Higgins said.
