Before the event
At the start of November the Politics Society organized a mock US election, with the campaigns of Hillary Clinton (Serena) and Donald Trump (Clemente) involving with speeches in junior and senior assemblies, poster campaigns and the mysterious appearance of life-sized cardboard cut-outs of Clinton, Trump and Obama on the balcony of the dining hall. This culminated in a mock presidential debate between our two candidates. This proved to be a fantastic event, moderated by our very own Dr Cromarty and covering the key issues, from immigration to gun laws. In the end, in our mock election at least, Clinton won with a total of 57% of the vote.
Aftermath
Following the shock result a series of events were organized to explain just how Trump could have been elected and what this means for the US and the world. In the aftermath a ‘Question Time’ style Q&A session was hosted with a panel of expert teachers and students. Students were invited to submit questions to Mr Zeqiri (Head of Politics), Mr Murphy (Politics Teacher and formerly of the Foreign Office), Mr Lewsley (Head of History) and our former Clinton as student representative, Serena. This was followed by a lecture from Dr Mike Finn (University of Warwick) who came in to explain how the polls failed to predict the upset. Finally, investigative journalist Jack Watling, who has written pieces for Reuters, The Guardian and others, came into school to explain Russia’s foreign policy in the light of Trump’s election.
Attie Medd.