North Penn Students Share Political Views During Mock Presidential Nominating Convention

More than 600 students received a hands-on civics lesson Monday at North Penn High School’s mock presidential nominating convention, and the results were anything but conventional.

Shunning both political parties, the convention was deemed an independent nominating group who considered eight candidates including President Joe Biden, former President Donald Trump, Republican presidential candidates Vivek Ramaswamy and Nikki Haley, Democratic presidential candidates Marianne Williamson and Dean Phillips, Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein and Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro.

The winners? The race for nomination came down to Ramaswamy and Shapiro, with Pennsylvania’s governor — the only nominee currently not in the national running — winning on the final ballot. His running mate was a Haley — Brian, North Penn High School social studies teacher, not Nikki, who is vying for the real Republican nomination.

Civic Engagement

Dating to 1976, the student-run program seeks to foster civic engagement by enabling students to role-play as delegates to a political party nominating convention, wherein they debate their party platform and nominate a candidate for president.

"One of our mission statements at North Penn is to send students out into the world ready to be active, engaged and informed citizens,” explained Brian Haley, convention advisor. "So we try to do as much hands-on stuff as we can so they know what it’s gonna be like when they get out there and they then have the interest to do it.”

"It’s a cool insight into how the parties actually function,” added convention co-chair and student Tarun Iyengar. "And I think it’s pretty important to get everyone engaged in politics.”

Held in the school auditorium, this year’s program featured an independent party convention to reflect the electorate’s increasing dissatisfaction with the two-party system. The convention kicked off with a three-hour debate on the party platform, with students lining up at microphones to express their viewpoints.

Differing Opinions

On domestic policy, there was a broad consensus on the need for stronger government intervention in the economy, including more government funding to reduce the cost of college and healthcare and legislation to raise the minimum wage and combat climate change.

"The United States spends the most per capita in the entire world on healthcare and yet our life expectancy has been going down,” said a student. "I think we should have universal health care. Leaving it up to the private sector is a bad idea because the main motive of the private sector is profit.”

"Not only has cost of living continued to rise, but worker productivity has gone up several fold in the last several decades, and yet the average income and the minimum wage has not followed suit,” said a student. "Corporate profits continue to rise, while the minimum wage has remained the same. It should be at least $15, if not more.”

The students also overwhelmingly supported the right to an abortion.

"Abortion should stay legal because, whether we like it or not, it’s gonna happen,” said a student. "Women are still gonna get it done even if it’s illegal and it will be more unsafe, so we will be putting their lives in danger, too.”

"I don’t believe that old rich guys in suits sitting in a building should decide what women are able to do with their bodies,” said a student. "They should have no say over what a random lady who got assaulted in Texas does with her body.”

On immigration, the students were more divided, with many touting the economic benefits of immigration and others raising concerns about crime and drug trafficking.

"Allowing more immigrants is always expressly a positive thing,” said a student. "It’s trillions of dollars benefiting the economy, hundreds of thousands of new jobs being created.”

"We should secure the southern border,” said a student. "The cartel and the criminal activity going on down there… we can’t have it disrupting our country.”

Foreign Affairs

On foreign policy, there was nearly unanimous agreement on the need to terminate U.S. aid to Israel due to concerns about war crimes and human rights violations in the Gaza Strip as well as settler violence in the West Bank.

"The actions by Hamas on Oct. 7 were abhorrent, but the actions by Israel have been just as, if not more, abhorrent,” said a student. "America cannot continue to send unconditional aid to Israel.”

"The bombings in Gaza have been indiscriminate and unjustifiable, and the only solution is to stop funding Israel entirely and place economic sanctions and embargoes on Israel and work towards a unitary state where Arabs and Jews can live together without this needless conflict,” said a student.

On the Russia/Ukraine crisis, students were more split, with some arguing that U.S. funding for Ukraine should be redirected to domestic issues and others insisting that the aid is essential to safeguarding democracy.

"You look at the tragedy in Hawaii, and the U.S. government is only sending $700 to survivors. A lot of the money we send to Ukraine could’ve been sent to the people who lost their homes in Hawaii,” said a student. "The U.S. government is caring more about foreign affairs than affairs in their own country.”

"My family is Ukrainian, and I think if we weren’t sending money to Ukraine, there would be another genocide,” said a student. "It’s not just about sending money to Ukraine; it’s about protecting democracy.”

Inspiring Words

Following the debate on the party platform were keynote addresses from state Rep. Steve Malagari and state Sen. Tracy Pennycuick, who each underscored the importance of civic engagement.

"I dare you to step up and stay involved. We have a very big political year coming,” said Pennycuick. "Work hard and make a difference in your community. Your voice can be heard and you can make a difference.”

"Your energy, your enthusiasm, your commitment to justice are the driving forces that will shape the destiny of America,” said Malagari. "The responsibility to safeguard our republic rests on your shoulders. Embrace the challenge.”

Malagari also took the opportunity to tout the House Education Committee’s passage of a bill to reduce the costs of Advanced Placement (AP) exams. The bill, suggested by North Penn High School students, would reimburse school districts for every student that takes an AP exam and allocate funding to train AP educators.

"Thirty-one other states offer some type of assistance with AP exams,” said Malagari. "I’m proud of your fellow students for seeing an inequity and wanting to right it. I’m proud of the hard work they spent looking for solutions and acting to make those solutions happen.”

Following the representatives’ speeches, the students began the presidential nomination process.

One-by-one, the candidates’ campaign managers made the case for their candidates before jockeying for votes from the delegates. After some discussion, representatives from all 50 states took to the microphones to announce their delegates’ votes.

On the first vote, Shapiro led the field with 272 votes, followed by Ramaswamy with 201, Trump with 41, Biden with 37, Haley with 25, Williamson with 17, Phillips with 16 and Stein with 14.

Shapiro and Ramaswamy then advanced to a runoff, and after a tight race, Shapiro was selected as the party’s presidential nominee. The students proceeded to nominate teacher and convention advisor Brian Haley as Shapiro’s vice president.

The presidential and vice-presidential nominations concluded the convention. As students filed out of the auditorium, Haley characterized the convention as a success.

"It went very well,” said Brian Haley. "When you put 600 kids in an auditorium, you never know what they’re gonna say, but they were very impressive today.”

Iyengar similarly commended his fellow students.

"Our politics are all online in short-form content, it’s harder to sit down for hours and have a big discussion, but it went really well,” said Iyengar. "They were really engaged, really interested in discussing the issues and excited to vote. They were so well-spoken; everyone had their research done.”

Iyengar concluded by expressing gratitude for the opportunity to participate in the time-honored tradition.

"It’s amazing how this tradition has been going since 1976,” he said. "I’m really glad I could be part of it.”

This article appears courtesy of a content share agreement between North Penn Now and The Reporter. To read more stories like this, visit www.thereporteronline.com.