Glen Cove Students Vote for the Next President

Glen Cove High School sophomores in Valerie Stazzone’s class had an opportunity to vote for the next United States president as part of a culminating activity to their unit study of non-fiction.

Prior to the election, the students read multiple articles that focused on education, national security, climate change and gender equality to get familiar with the issues and the views of presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump. They also read both candidates’ platforms and watched the first two presidential debates. In class, the students discussed what they learned in a Socratic seminar. According to Stazzone, she initiated the unit by asking students if they felt they had a voice in the community.

“It’s important for the students to realize they have a voice,” Stazzone said. “When we began this unit many students had preconceived opinions about each candidate. Through this process they were able to identify and focus on issues the students supported and match them with the candidate that best represented their beliefs.”

As part of the class’ election process, each student filled out a voter registration card and cast their vote. The student’s votes will be tallied with the votes of other high school students across the country on www.newsela.com.

Story by Syntax, Photos courtesy of the Glen Cove City School District :

1. Sophomores Diamond Soto and Cyra Burnett and classmates took part in the election process.
2. Sophomore Emily Villar filled out a voter registration card during class.
3. English teacher Valerie Stazzone spoke to students about the voting process before they cast their votes.
4. Sophomore Cindy Cruz cast her vote for the presidential election.