Holland, Mich.--President Barack Obama was
re-elected for his second and final term on Tuesday, November 6, 2012. Obama
won the Electoral College vote in 28 states, and Mitt Romney won 22 states.
Obama won 303 Electoral votes, and Romney had
206. A candidate needs 270 Electoral College votes to win, so Obama won by a large
margin. The election had low voter turnout, partly due to Super-storm Sandy,
which left much of the East Coast devastated, and without power.
Students of Holland New
Tech and Holland High School were given chances to participate in mock
elections, and Obama won by large margins at both schools. That said, opinion
about politics and the election was diverse in the days following the election.
Ben Kouchnerkavich, a 10th
grade student said, "Being a Libertarian, I have different beliefs than
most people. I feel that parents tend to push their beliefs onto their
children, and children only feed off what their parents think (about
politics)."
Mr. Ryan Harrell is a
teacher at Holland New Tech, and he majored in Political Science at Hope
College. He said, "I feel as though right now our political system is
greatly influenced by business interests rather than the will of the people.
This is nothing new, however. It has been a recurrent theme throughout
history. I hope that as we progress as a nation there is a shift to pulling money
out of our political power structure." He also believes that students need
to pay attention to politics, even at a young age. He said, "You
(students) will inherit the problems (or solutions) produced by our current
politicians. The policies put in place today directly influence your future,
such as higher education options and job availability.”
Ms. Emily Wells, a science
teacher at Holland New Tech, commented, "Differing viewpoints in this
country have always contributed to its richness, and they should be respected.”
She went on to say, “I think that there is a growing systemic problem in
politics in which people are so divided along party lines that they cannot work
together to really solve any problems. Apparently they need a lesson in
collaboration." Collaboration is important enough at Holland New Tech that
it makes up 10% of every student’s grade.
Some were looking forward
to the re-election of President Barack Obama, and some were not. Noah Babinski,
a 9th grade student, felt that neither candidate was acceptable. "I didn't
like either of the candidates,” he said. “One had something I liked, and the
other the same. But altogether I wouldn't have wanted to vote for either of
them, mainly because I'm not a fan of politics. It’s too corrupt."
