‘Fear’ and ‘Excitement’ are words HHS students used to describe the results of this year’s presidential election. Donald Trump’s landslide victory, winning all seven battleground states defied nearly all expectations from voters and political experts alike. Divided opinions on the outcome of the election can be felt across the country, and HHS is no exception.

Thornton and Fonseca-Mondragon express their views on the results of the election

For Senior Aiyana Thornton, the re-election of Trump brings her fear of what her future might look like after high school.

“It’s really scary, especially as a woman, and having the likelihood that a lot of your rights are about to be taken away is a scary thought. Especially as I’m about to graduate and live on my own, and get to the age where that stuff is really about to matter, so it’s really just fear and confusion,” Thornton said.

Trump’s foreign policy position pertaining to climate agreements is another point of issue that brings concern to Thornton.

“He’s obviously not going to enter any climate agreements or clean energy agreements and that’s really scary because global warming is a very real thing,” Thornton said.

Climate change has been a rising concern for Gen Z students, as 75 students (56%) in our HHS Media Poll chose climate change as an issue that is affecting them the most.

On the other hand, Junior Ivan Fonseca-Mondragon expresses excitement for a second Trump term, and the potential positive impacts it could have on the economy.

“I think this is a positive, I feel really optimistic. I think it’s going to be a good four years,  despite what people say. I think people don’t realize how good we were living [during Trump’s first term] because of misinformation and censorship,” Fonseca-Mondragon said.

Fonseca-Mondragon looks forward to Trump’s economic policy the most to potentially bring more manufacturing jobs back to the United States.

“I’m looking forward to his economic policy, he said he would take off income taxes if we raised tariffs on other countries. We are being ripped off by other countries who are taking advantage of our manufacturing. I am excited for the jobs that will be created by bringing manufacturing back to the United States,” Fonseca-Mondragon said.

Economic inflation was the highest voted concern for HHS students in our HHS Media polling, as 40.6% of students said economic inflation was the biggest issue for America and 65% of students said it was a concern for themselves.

First time voter shares experience participating in 2024 Election

For Senior Gio Sanchez-Garcia voting for the first time was bigger than just casting a ballot, as it was a full circle moment because his voting location was at his old elementary school.

“I voted at my old elementary school, so that was really awesome getting to go back, but this time for a different reason, to vote,” Sanchez-Garcia said.

Sanchez-Garcia stayed up watching the results of the election, hoping Kamala Harris would pull through in battleground states.

“From early on a lot of states turned red. I was comparing it to the 2020 map, so there’s nothing to be scared about, because last election it was the states with the most electoral votes that mattered most. As more states were turning red, and Trump won Georgia I was kind of losing hope,” Sanchez-Garcia said.

Despite the unwanted result for Sanchez-Garcia, he felt more involved in politics as he had participated in the election.