Andrew Yang wins Harmony School's mock election

Dec. 4--On Tuesday afternoon, the Harmony School gymnasium erupted in chants of "Yang gang" as it was announced that Andrew Yang won the presidential election -- the school's mock election, that is.

The Harmony mock election was complete with student candidates, campaign managers, poll workers and a debate moderator. It all came to an end as the whole school gathered to hear the result. The room went silent before being filled with the sound of clapping and cheering as a fourth grader announced into a microphone that President Donald Trump received 11 votes and Yang received 102.

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Judah Thompson, a sophomore at Harmony, personified Andrew Yang, one of the Democratic candidates for president, and went up in a debate against Dietrich Davidson, a junior at Harmony, who played the role of Trump, a Republican seeking reelection.

Davidson as Trump explained how he would pay for the wall and Thompson as Yang described how he would pay for universal basic income.

"How we're going to pay for UBI is by taxing big companies like Amazon and Apple," Thompson said. "Amazon has over $11 billion in unpaid taxes. We need to add additional taxes to those companies."

He said this money would go to the people. He said UBI would create more jobs, support mental health, cause crime to go down and enhance the economy.

"We're going to take money from Pentagon, where it's buying things that are not necessary, not protecting the people and not helping with the big problem with illegal immigration," Davidson said. "These are small numbers whenever you're at the Pentagon, OK, believe me."

The students portraying the candidates answered questions from moderator Rose Shipley, a senior, as well as the audience and each other, all while expressing their candidates' views and mimicking their body language and tone of voice. The students didn't know what questions would be asked ahead of time and had been preparing for about the past two months as part of World Today class. The class at the private Bloomington school is taught by Sallyann Murphey, who came up with the idea to hold mock elections every four years.

For Thompson, the preparation involved taking lots of notes while doing research, which included talking to those who support Yang.

"It taught me a lot about politics," Thompson said. "I didn't really know anything about politics until I took this class."

He studied more than policies, though he still felt nervous, he said. He looked at Yang's body language, mannerisms, the way he spoke and even how he dressed, he said.

For Davidson, practicing stump speeches in class and receiving feedback was helpful. Davidson said it was easy to find footage of Trump and to find out what his views and beliefs are, which he described as extreme.

"I've learned to look at things from another side, even if I disagree with it," Davidson said. "I think that it's all been really fun and I like these kinds of things that Harmony does. I think that Harmony is really great for that kind of thing. I understand how to educate myself, I think about what to look into. But I think as you learn more about anything, you realize how little you know."

Though Davidson speaking as Trump received boos from the crowd, Shipley said she thought he did a better job than people gave him credit for.

"They know we want them to become them," Murphey said. "Taking on the persona becomes particularly critical during the debate, because then they're answering questions off the cuff, so they have to kind of be in the mind of the candidate enough to where they can do that."

Watching the actual presidential debates is required for her students, she said, and they discuss them in class.

"It's just a way of getting the kids to engage that they will find interesting," Murphey said. "I'm a great believer in learning by osmosis, that they don't feel that they're being forced to learn something, that they'll do it because they want to."

In the morning, students portraying candidates, 11 Democrats and four Republicans, gave stump speeches. This year, topics of stump speeches and debate questions included climate change, LGBTQ rights, health care, education, women's reproductive rights and gun control.

Each of the students running in the race took the stage, many in suits or blazers, in front of a projected photo of their candidate. As each candidate stood at a podium painted red, white and blue to look like the American flag, some students in the audience sat cross legged with clipboards in their laps, taking notes. They clapped after each candidate, some of whom waved to the crowd as they exited.

While Thompson and Davidson were the ones who ultimately took the stage in the afternoon, everyone in Harmony was involved. Third and fourth graders ran the polls and students in fifth grade and above voted, along with Harmony staff.

"It's interesting," Halloway Galvan, a fourth grader, said. "You get to find out more about people and know more about them, you can ask them questions. It's fun."

The third and fourth graders handed out ballots and passed out "I Voted" stickers as people filed in to vote. Decorated poster boards provided privacy for voters.

"What I really hope that they learn is to become engaged citizens," Murphey said. "I mean, that's what it's all about in the end, is that they don't only just vote if they can this time, but that they continue to see that as a really important responsibility from now on, and I think that they will."

As the school narrowed the pool down to one candidate from each party, candidates such as Elizabeth Warren, Pete Buttigieg and Bernie Sanders were among those that didn't make the cut.

Bernie Sanders won the last Harmony election in 2015. What happens next is up to the student who wins, Murphey said. They can take on the persona of the candidate as they wish. She said after the last election, the student version of Bernie Sanders made an appearance at prom.

When Thompson, or Yang, won, he thanked Davidson, Shipley and all the other candidates for their work.

He received an award in memory of Tim Bruner, who died last week. Bruner won the first Harmony election in 2004 as George W. Bush. The award consisted of a gift certificate, donated by Bruner's former teachers, for Thompson to put toward school books and supplies.

Contact Emily Cox at 812-331-4243, ecox@heraldt.comor follow @HT_InSchool on Twitter.

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