During the upcoming election season, MICDS faculty members hope to make sure the community stays respectful, and students hope the outcome pushes the country in a positive direction.
“I feel like what I need to do, and our administration needs to do, our faculty need to do, is create a climate where you can talk about these things and you don’t feel like you’re going to say the wrong thing, or someone’s going to jump down your throat, or you’re going to get in trouble, or something’s going to go viral,” Head of School and faculty sponsor for the Campus Democrats Jay Rainey said.
While this election, like many others, is sparking controversy, Campus Democrats have been encouraging people to vote, raising awareness about elections, and setting up a voter drive.
“Go vote.” Jackson Vetter ‘23, cohead of Campus Democrats said. “And don’t just pick who your parents pick, your vote is your vote. So make that choice, make a wise choice and if you understand what you want from the country, then and you do research, then you can find the correct candidate to vote for.”
Both students and faculty, however, have concerns that the election may create more animosity between the two parties, especially after some of the recent news stories surrounding the candidates.
“I hope that it doesn’t create a strong divide. I don’t want it to become a dictatorship eventually, which I think would be hard in the United States but it seems like that’s the kind of route we’re heading down because of January 6 and things like that so I’m hoping that like if Trump gets elected it won’t be a pattern of, like, more power.” Zoie Tolson ‘24 said..
“I think it’s worryingly similar to the 2020 one.” Maya Ashley-Martin ‘24 said.
“I’m not too excited to vote in this election,” Tolson said.
“There’s not enough emphasis on finding solutions or actually really taking the country into account.” Jenna Lin, Math teacher and faculty sponsor for the Young Republicans Club said. “Actually really wanting to find some, finding a solution that everyone can stick behind but it’s more about smearing the other.”
Noting that the election could be divisive, MICDS is taking into account the current climate.
“We reflect St. Louis, which is a diverse city. You all have lots of perspectives to bring,” Rainey said.
The Young Republicans club has met once this year. The cohead had no comment regarding this story.
“Small group discussions are a productive way to have political conversations, moderated by someone who’s trying to draw out participation.” Rainey said.
“The faculty have had a great sort of separate classes before school for the faculty to discuss different political views”. Lin said, when referring to the cultural competency classes provided for faculty. “We had several people from different political backgrounds come and talk about politics and if they could foster something like that for students,” Lin added.
“The things that are in our world right now, that complicate our lives, that create negativity et cetera, we have those things in our community, but we have much less of it than many other places seem to have. I think we do a good job and I think we need to remember that. When I walk around and I spend time with students and I spend time with our teachers, our parents, people generally love the school, they generally are happy to be associated with it, proud to be associated with it. I don’t want us to lose sight of that. We can be better than our time. We should not lose confidence in ourselves,” Rainey said.
