Tuesday the 9th was election day, and this year in addition to Congressional elections, the citizens of the United States voted for our next President. For the past few months there has been a lot of controversy over who will become our next President, our Republican nominee Donald Trump, or our Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton. Within these past few months Americans have been exposed to many varying issues involving these two candidates from scandals to heated debates.

The debates turned out to be the biggest show of the election. The two candidates were involved in 3 debates in the past two months. These debates were filled with interruptions, name calling, statements, insults, and a lot of “misspoken”words.

The election this year, and all of its controversy, has made it a popular subject in classes throughout the country. On Tuesday morning, as the polls in New York were open for two hours already, Galway Jr./Sr. High School students, filed into the auditorium. For the past few weeks Mr. Mal’s Government class, a class made up of students in their senior year, have been studying the debate, and everything that has come with it. Over these weeks the students elected two representatives, to play the roles of Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump in the mock debate.

When all the students took their seats in the auditorium, the debate began. First we were introduced to the debate by the moderators, Erik Matthews and April Carlson. They were there from GTV to keep track of the time, and to control the audience and candidates. We were then introduced to our two candidates of the mock debate; representing Hillary Clinton was Brooke Martin, and representing Donald Trump was Shane Brownell.

Brooke Martin began with her opening speech, summarizing Clinton’s beliefs and what her goals are as President. Shane Brownell then opened up with his opening speech, stating “I am Donald Trump,” and the audience roared. It was clear from the beginning that no matter what Brooke said while answering the questions, everyone was in support of Shane, or should I say Trump. For the next hour the debate was open to students to ask questions of the candidates. If a student had a question they walked to the front of the auditorium and waited approval from Mr. Mal. Throughout the hour many questions were for Hillary Clinton, about many of her scandals over the years and her time in politics. Although Brooke’s answers were very accurate and addressed students’ accusations, that did not matter. In the end, the audience was in support of Trump, no matter what he said, even though he said very little and would either agree or disagree with what “Hillary”said.

At the end of the debate the audience began cheering for Trump, and the students began filing out. The mock debate was a big topic throughout the day. Many teachers and students applauded Brooke for her calm demeanor and political responses as she was being attacked by questions. However, at the end of the day, after all the students had voted during their lunches, Donald Trump won Galway’s mock election. And in the real Presidential Election, Hillary Clinton won the popular vote, but Donald Trump won the electoral votes so he will be inaugurated in January.