With the 2024 Presidential Election being one of the biggest and most culturally significant events of the year, AP Government students were tasked with creating their own election. With the help of their teacher, Brant Evans, these students chose one of three sides: Hamburger and fries, grilled cheese and tater tots or media. On actual election day, Nov 5, students in grade Pre-K through eighth grade placed their votes on which food group they liked better.
Junior Gracie Cowan, who was on the hamburger team, had no hesitation when it came to choosing.
“Obviously, I chose hamburger and fries,” Cowan said. “Leading up to the debate we made really fun videos, like ads for our campaigns. We sent them down to the lower school and then we also worked a little bit on a debate script.”
The AP Government students went down the Friday before election day to have a debate in front of the third, fourth and fifth graders. Each team had to prepare and research for their given side without knowing the questions the media team were asking.
“We looked up different statistics for what we wanted to use for why hamburgers and fries are better. Then, we also came up with some fun ideas to keep the kids engaged.”
The media team was comprised of five students, one being senior Blair Moseley.
“I thought it would be kind of cool to research and fact check them and be a neutral side, instead of picking one.”
Moseley’s team was in charge of asking debatable questions, finding the truth and keeping the two sides inside the time limit.
“We went around and polled different teachers about which side they would pick, and then we looked up a bunch of websites, found dirt on each side and then found positive things about each side,” Moseley said. “For the debate we have two different rounds, one is the health and diet of each food, and then the other round is the popularity and which one is more American.”
The voting process took place on Tuesday, where a Google Form was sent out to all lower school students. The kids could use pretend IDs to gain access to a voting booth. There, they could cast their ballot on which food they most like having at lunch. The votes were recorded and counted.
Hamburger and fries won by a large margin. When asking the voters themselves how they decided on their favorite food group, fourth grader Tallulah Talley said she prefers hamburgers.
“I just think they’re delicious, especially with ketchup.”
Third grader Gretchen Dunagan also commented on the matter.
“They’re just better and have more protein.”
Although hamburgers may have won the popular vote, grilled cheese and tater tots fans were still persistent in their support for their favorite lunch. Fifth grader Stuart Jordan was one of those supporters.
“I’m voting for them because I like grilled cheese and they taste better,” Jordan said. “I think the grilled cheese won the debate.”