During the weeks leading up to the 2018 midterm elections, the history department prepared in-class activities and discussions for students regarding possible outcomes of the race.

The late-start block schedule days encouraged some history teachers to implement an election-related activity or assignment in their classes, history teacher Celia Goedde said.

“With the block periods landing where they did and with the midterm elections coming up, it was just the perfect time period to do [the activity] and give a little more time and flexibility in class,” Goedde said.

Students in United States History and AP United States History researched candidates in specific districts across the country during the trial late-start day block periods, while AP U.S. Government classes wrote papers predicting results of the elections.

“I think it’s really useful to do research on these types of things because it’s very important that the students of our community are informed in some way about what is going on in our country,” A.P. U.S. History student Holden McRae ’20 said.

Goedde said that she hoped the activity provided students with more factual information about this pivotal midterm elections.

“This is a great time for students to be interested in the political climate,” Goedde said. “There is a lot of emotion and passion, and, as a teacher, one of the things that I want to do is give students some factual foundation to guide them.”

The activity also served as an enjoyable break from what is usually a lecture-based class, Scarlett Strasberg ’20 said.“Not only did we get to choose who we thought was going to win, but we also investigated which issues were the most important and listen to our classmates talk about the races they researched,” Strasberg said. “We got to see the motifs of what is really important in this election and our nation.”