Politics Students Link Up with US University for Presidential Election Project

26 September 2016

Government & Politics students have been taking advantage of an opportunity to work with a US university in the build up to the American Presidential Election.

North Carolina State University invited UK-based schools and colleges to participate in a competition, which sees students exercise their knowledge of US politics – a crucial component of Government & Politics study at A Level this year.

In a week where the final two Presidential candidates, Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump, go head-to-head in televised debates, students were to submit simulations of election pitches by chosen public figures in the United States from either side of the political aisle. Rules also stipulated that these speeches had to be of 150 words or fewer.

Government & Politics teacher, Jane Cavanagh, selected the best submission from each of the four A2 classes, which were then uploaded to the North Carolina State Uni website to compete against somewhere in the region of 100 other institutions’ efforts. Along with the filmed short speeches, other campaign material and visuals are tendered to bolster the students’ chances of winning.

Jane said: “This was the perfect opportunity for the students to get involved with the election and it blends in perfectly with our studies at the moment. Having to consider arguments from both sides, Republican and Democrat, has been a useful tool to help the students understand the full spectrum of political opinion and makes them consider the general psyche of the American public. Choosing the best from each group wasn’t easy because they were so many good submissions!”

Watch each of our four ‘Presidential candidates’ below:

Republican Presidential candidate and Senator for Kentucky, Rand Paul, who lost out to Donald Trump for the party nomination for 2016.

Written and read by Carl Kelly.