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LORDSTOWN – More than three dozen students from Maplewood, Lordstown and Newberry schools will be traveling to Iowa in February to work with their favorite candidate as they barnstorm the state in order to win the first caucuses that will put them on the path to being the presidential nominee for the Republican and Democratic parties.
“The goal is to give these students a chance to meet and work with candidates as they work to win their campaigns,” Lordstown Superintendent Terry Armstrong said.
He took about 24 students to the caucuses in 2008, where they met then-Senators Barack Obama and Joe Biden, as well as other candidates, including eventual Republican nominee John McCain.
Armstrong, who was then a civics teacher at Lordstown High School, said the administration agreed to allow him to take the students as long as the trip did not cost the district any money.
“It was a huge success,” Armstrong said. “The student learned so much about politics and how campaigns work.”
For his effort, Armstrong won an award and $5,000 in new technology for the school district from Time Warner Cable.
“We are hoping this year’s students will be able to work on the campaigns of one of their three top candidates for the 2016 Republican or Democratic nomination,” he said.
Ben Gibson, a teacher at Mapelwood High School, said his students have been doing fundraisers to pay for the trip since school began in September.
“I’m participating in this because this will be first time I will be able to vote and I thought it would be a good idea to see how caucuses and primaries work,” Josie Toporcek, 17, of Lordstown, said.
Hannah Emerson, 16, expects going on this trip will be a great educational experience.
The students went to the Republican debate in Columbus in August and went to see Bernie Sanders, who is running for the Democratic nomination.
“I got to meet Don Don when he was in Columbus,” Emerson said. “Don Don (Donald Trump), is my favorite candidate. I believe in just about everything he says.”
Emerson has a picture of herself and Trump on her phone.
Maya Kresic, 16, also of Lordstown, is hoping to get to work with Sanders, her favorite candidate.
“I felt the Bern,” Kresic said. “Literally. I got to shake his hand. I’m very liberal, so meeting Bernie was life changing. It was a great experience.”
Darion Ferry of Maplewood likes the idea of going to Iowa and learning n the real world how the caucus process works.
“It will be much better than reading something in a book,” she said. “I want to have a better understanding how government works.”