MANCHESTER, N.H. – Journalists from around the world are descending upon Manchester to cover the final few days of the New Hampshire Primary, and a few local high school students got a chance to work with them in a unique learning experience.
Eight students from Souhegan High School in Amherst came to the Brady Sullivan Properties’ historic Jefferson Mill in Manchester last week to cover the New Hampshire Primary Mock Election along with Alexander Heffner, host of the Open Mind on PBS and Emmy-award winning journalist Andrew Siff.
Over four hours, the student-journalists participated in a program spotlighting the mock election, which is a joint project of New Hampshire Public Television and Franklin Pierce University and drew votes from over 4,000 high school students across New Hampshire.
“This is the first time most of us from Souhegan have been able to do something like this, we’ve learned a lot about what it’s like to be on an actual set,” said Evmorfia Alton, editor-in-chief Souhegan’s Claw Online Magazine. “For me, this has been a great chance to branch out and also learn what youth involvement in politics.”
Souhegan Journalism Teacher Adam Theriault said that many of the student-journalists are also politically active in some way, engaged in podcasts where the talk about a wide array of topics salient for teenagers. However, their trip to Manchester served as a once-in-a-lifetime experience.
“I this is a really big opportunity for them to spread their journalism wings and I applaud them for having the courage to do it,” he said. “This is applied education at its finest and its something they’re going to remember forever I think.”
On the Democratic side of the Mock Primary, U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) won with 29.3% of the vote (720 votes) , followed by former South Bend, IN Mayor Pete Buttigieg at 19.5% (480 votes) and Entrepreneur Andrew Yang at 19.3% (475 votes).
On the Republican side, President Donald Trump received 67% (1,020 votes), followed by Hanover, NH Social Studies Teacher William Murphy at 12.5% (190 votes).