Photo courtesy of Gage Skidmore
Donald Trump’s unexpected victory last week has student’s emotions running high at Northwood. Many students on both sides of the political spectrum admitted that they were surprised by the results.
“It was a shock, let’s just put it that way,” senior Will Sturdivant said. “The polls were wrong—everything was completely wrong.”
Senior Anna Sheets supported Trump, but was surprised by the outcome.
“I didn’t think Trump would win because of the media and how they’re always stressing Hillary, and how most of them are biased on one side and have a lot of faith in Hillary,” Sheets said.
Many students on the other side felt distressed as a victory for Trump seemed more and more likely.
“It was one of the most terrifying nights of my life,” senior Henry Berman said. “I stayed up until 2 a.m. watching everything with my parents, watching everything unfold on Twitter. It was extremely stressful. I couldn’t sleep. I was in tears; it was devastating.”
Some students, such as junior Hayden Spurrell, were concerned for the future of the country under a Trump presidency.
“I was sad,” Spurrell said. “[I was] disappointed. You could say that, as my father says, ‘Never underestimate the stupidity of the American people.’ And I had felt betrayed at that point.”
Others were more optimistic toward the unexpected results of the election. Senior Nicholas Cantin spoke on the things he expects Trump to bring come his term.
“[Last night] unfolded much better than expected,” Cantin said. “I think it’s probably the best result we could have gotten. I think we are going to see major changes, and I wouldn’t be surprised if the changes are so significant and dramatic that we would see a very surprising election in 2020. Ethics reforms in Congress, fantastic. Lobbying reforms, fantastic. Getting money out of politics, fantastic. All these changes are only something that I think an outsider would have brought.”
Many students, such as senior Trevor Pister, want to see how Trump will handle the task of bringing Americans back together after such a polarizing election.
“I want to keep an optimistic view, and I honestly believe that some of our relationships with other countries will improve,” Pister said. “I think that if Trump can maintain good relationships, if he can unite the American people, I think that we can get a lot done in America and hopefully we can fix some of our economic problems and even our social problems.”
Whether they’re excited or fearful for the future, most students have their eyes stuck open in anticipation.
“I am partly sad, partly fearful and partly interested,” senior Timothy Willard said. “Mostly I’m just curious; I kind of want to see how this unfolds.”
Spurrell has chosen to not let his nervousness for the election get in the way of his education.
“My dad said to me, ‘It doesn’t really matter what happens this election, you just do well in school and you work hard; you can go to other countries,’” Spurrell said. “‘As long as you have the skills that you developed in school, that’s all that matters.'”
– By Parker Pschorr
