The election was held on Friday, November 21st and consisted of both Democratic and Republican candidates.

The Democrat candidates were Kaylan Fernandez for president and Charlie Seidel for vice president; the Republican candidates were Erin Burns for president and Clark Ashland for vice president. The voters were all of Ms. Shoe-Corrigan’s classes, including the 10th and 11th graders.

Ms. Shoe-Corrigan, the social studies teacher who instructs A.P. Government, describes the challenging yet rewarding experience associated with this project. “My class simulates a federal election. They divide into the two major parties and choose candidates. They actually run the election so everybody takes a role in the campaign. They target their voters and try to figure out what their constituency looks like. They create a platform. They research the platform and support it. They also get endorsements and make commercials, posters, and other things to try and influence the voters.”

Although very intricate, this assignment is also a lot of fun and possesses numerous life lessons. Erin Burns and Kaylan Fernandez describe their favorite aspect of the election.

Burns enjoys it because it has allowed her class to get more into politics. “We can see what’s happening in our country which has made us care a lot more about our issues and because we care more about our issues, we can help them and see what we’re doing right and what we can maybe change.”

Meanwhile, Kaylan appreciates the project because it combines an array of skills from her various classes, “It has allowed me to see from the perspective of a politician and how they should run a campaign. It uses not only social studies, but also business and marketing and I like those a lot.”

Other than relishing the replicated campaign environment, both candidates have strong and thoughtful appeals. Erin elaborates on her campaign ideals, “We’re running on pretty moderate republican views, specifically on education, the economy, and energy. We think that more education should be left up to the state so that schools can be better funded. We don’t think that the federal government should have as much as a role in schools and we think that schools can be more productive and teach better if they are funded by the state and locally. For the economy, we’re approaching $18 trillion in debt and so we plan to make sure the government is spending their money wisely. Lastly, we promise to begin producing more of our own energy that is renewable and eco-friendly.”

Her opponent, Kaylan, also has a highly competitive campaign, “My campaign has been built upon three e’s in particular – the economy, equality, and education. Our goal through all of these is to strengthen not only Minnesota but the United States. We are prioritizing our spending on education and college tuition is incredibly expensive and for high school students, which is something that we need to focus on. For equality, democrats pay attention to social inequalities and how we can fix them. Our main focuses are gay marriage, women being able to be paid the same, and the achievement gap between people of color and white students. In addition, we talk about the economy. We think that we need to reduce spending but still keep some programs like education.”

Although both put up strong campaigns, Fernandez won in the end 73-72.