CLASS PROJECT Students study candidates before picking a president

They created skits as campaign commercials for their candidate.
By DENISE DICK
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
CHAMPION -- Could the high school student body be a microcosm for the country?
If so, Sen. John Kerry will be the 44th president of the United States.
Champion students took time out of their government and English classes Tuesday to cast their votes for president. Kerry, the Democrat, got 250 votes with 177 students selecting Republican President Bush and 48 students giving the nod to Independent Ralph Nader.
Nathan Blazek, 18, and a senior set up the computer voting system to enable each student to vote for one of the three candidates.
Other students input the names of their classmates, assigning user names and passwords to prevent repeat voting.
It took between two and three months, said Nathan, who is considering studying computer engineering in college next year.
Jerry Stevens, an English and computer technology teacher, came up with the idea for student voting.
"All I did was give them the seed," Stevens said. "They did the rest."
Skits
Teacher Luanne Hite's government classes learned about the electoral process and created skits and campaign signs for the candidate of their choice.
The two-minute skits were videotaped with the aid of teacher John Gibson and aired on the school television channel. Campaign signs lettered with magic marker or colored pencil decorate the school hallways.
"It was really a collaborative project," Hite said.
After picking a candidate, Hite instructed students to conduct research and back up their skits with facts. Work started in early September.
"I told them they needed to be informed candidates and to pick the best candidate," she said.
Students also watched the debates to educate themselves about the candidates.
Opposing views
Juniors Matt Leigh and Sarah Moon, both 16, are opposed in their views on the candidates.
Matt cast his vote for Bush, saying he likes the way the President's handling of terrorism and his economic and education policies.
"Nobody is perfect, but I like how he's handling better than Kerry," he said. "I also like his [Bush's] morals. I think he's a very moral person."
Sarah thinks differently.
"I voted for Sen. Kerry because I think he's more intelligent," Sarah said. "Especially during the debates, he seemed like he had done his homework and seemed more knowledgeable."
In the pro-Bush skit created by Matt's team, they interviewed students and teachers about gas prices and showed footage of a darkened room to hearken images of last summer's blackout. The skit then informed viewers about the President's plans for lower gas prices and a strengthened energy grid.
Sarah's team members outnumbered Matt's nearly two-to-one because more students in her class supported the senator's bid to become commander in chief. No one in their class backed Nadar.
That team showed pictures of a duck blackened by an oil spill and a dead fish to highlight Kerry's plans for the environment.
The project even prompted some students to change their position.
"I had one student who was a Kerry supporter but as the project went on, he became a Bush supporter," Hite said.
denise_dick@vindy.com