Two presentations about the upcoming election roused thoughts and opinions among U-High students. On Oct. 24 during Lab B, sophomores, juniors and seniors attended an assembly on political extremism and moderate candidates by political science professor, Dr. Anthony Fowler. Meanwhile, ninth-graders attended a separate assembly presented by professor Kyle Larson.
Dr. Fowler’s assembly included a Q&A section between Dr. Fowler and U-High students, allowing students to ask questions around topics such as the Jan. 6 riot, Donald Trump and Kamala Harris’s policies, and the Electoral College. Dr. Larson’s assembly focused strongly on educating ninth graders around this election’s uniqueness.
Before the assemblies, sophomore Victoria Syverson was excited and surprised, because she felt, as a school, the election had not been widely addressed.
“I don’t think the school itself has said much about the election,” Victoria said. “I’m interested to see what they are going to talk about because, to be honest, I don’t think we’ve ever had an assembly like this.”
This year was JSoA’s first assembly, and was hosted by club members. Club co-presidents Skye Freeman and Ainsley Williams, alongside treasurer Maya Livni, introduced the guest speakers. The assembly was planned with history teacher Cynthia Jurrison and club adviser Katie Clendenning.
Senior Wendell He enjoyed the assembly. They thought it was much better than other assemblies they’ve experienced and was much better than they had come to expect.
“Generally, I have a pretty negative outlook on these sorts of assemblies because they tend to not be run very smoothly, but I think this one was run pretty well,” Wendell said. “I think it was very nice having a professional speaker.”
Ninth grader Elijah Williams found the ninth grade assembly unengaging for their age level and thought it should have been directed at an older audience.
“I think it was really helpful, but I feel like the audience they, like, presented this too was really young,” Elijah said.
At the assembly, the results of a brief survey conducted by JSoA were displayed. The majority of the survey’s questions, which amassed 321 responses, overlapped with a national survey conducted for adults by the NORC at the University of Chicago. The assembly revealed that many students believed the 2020 election results were correctly counted and were optimistic for the 2024 results.
Despite this, Elijah noted worry in his grade surrounding the election after the presentation.
“I feel like a lot of people are worrying about this election,” Elijah said, he noticed a particular concern towards foul play around voting.
Dr. Fowler’s presentation, “Moderate Voters and Extreme Candidates,” addressed extremism in recent politics and the two-party system as a whole.
“Most Americans are ideologically moderate and prefer moderate candidates. But most political candidates are extreme,” read a slide from Dr. Fowler’s presentation.
Despite this, many U-High students answered the JSOA survey optimistically and thought their political party had a fair shot at winning the election.
For Wendell, the guest speaker’s presentation reaffirmed their beliefs about the election.
“I think that this election is certainly one of the more polarized ones that we’ve had in the history of the U.S. so far,” Wendell said. “I think a lot of it is very performative.”
Both Elijah, Wendell and Dr. Fowler agreed that the election was an incredibly polarizing issue. Elijah believes that for students conversations around the election should continue.
Elijah said, “We have to have this knowledge [about the election] to move our country into the future.”
