Four chairs, four microphones, two moderators filled with questions, an anxious crowd stuffed into the library all to see four students, all with one dream, to help their Presidential running mate with the State High Mock Election. On that dream-filled stage were four students acting as Vice Presidential candidates, one for each party. Justin Korman represented the Democratic party, Colin Vollmer spoke on behalf of the Republican party, Bryant Attanasio served the Green party and Rachel Cole expressed the beliefs of the Libertarian Party. It was a debate full of disputes, great one liners and of course, as Korman brilliantly said, “bunches of fun”.

This opportunity created not only an informative debate for the viewers but was also an exciting and educational chance for the candidates involved. As Atanasio said, “I learned that the heart of democracy is talking to each other and that is why I believe that these debates are so beneficial to the election process, so the voters can become more informed and thus, make a better decision.”

This debate also allowed the vice presidential candidates to take all of the research and work they have done, not to just write a paper on, or do a project on with only their teacher seeing, but an opportunity to display their ability to demonstrate their knowledge to a large group of their peers, outside of a regular classroom experience. As Vollmer said, “It was awesome to get a chance to get to do this kind of simulation and is something you do not get in a regular class, it was really great.” Cole also believed that an experience like this was unique experience saying, “My favorite part of the debate was being able to do a new opportunity, I have never done a political debate like this… it was a cool experience to argue.”

This was also an interesting and informative event for the audience. As junior Pete Lauer, who attended the debate said, “The two moderators did a wonderful job, creating fun but informative topics for the candidates to debate and to help the audience decide who their favorite candidate was.” Also in agreement over the merit of the debate to the viewers, was another 11th grader Tori Lenze who said, “the debate was very interesting, how the candidates stepped into their party’s position and had to debate interesting topics.”

The State High Vice Presidential Mock Election proved to be both a fun and education as well as a unique, out of classroom experience for both candidates and audience members alike.