School portraits / The whole-school election simulation
Townsend Harris would very much like your vote
Freshmen acquire political importance. Seniors discover that the electorate has other things to do.
At Townsend Harris, a freshman has something a senior wants. This is a useful development for the freshman. The thing is a vote, and during the school’s election simulation, older students have excellent reasons to become interested in what younger students think.
I like this rearrangement of high-school importance. Being new usually means acquiring information: where things are, how things work, which door you have confidently walked through by mistake. Becoming part of the electorate means other people must now explain themselves to you. Please continue. You are listening.
The simulation gives seniors campaign, interest-group, and media roles. Other students become the voters. The 2025 manual even supplies an imaginary currency, Simbucks, so the exercise can include the tiresome business of paying for things. It is difficult to remain a pure visionary when a campaign also needs a budget.
This is the sort of school project that can follow you out of the classroom. In The Classic’s account of the 2014 simulation, senior Dimitri Perdik credited classroom visits and relatable commercials with helping his campaign. Sophomore Brianna Manginelli appreciated candidates who knew their material and brought different views into the room. A freshman’s account of what influenced her also included the bake sales.
Of course the bake sales got a mention. We should not be surprised when an event involving teenagers also acquires a food subplot. Adults can hold a two-hour meeting about educational purpose and still judge the occasion partly on whether there was anything decent to eat.
The candidates, meanwhile, have to make themselves known. That requirement sounds manageable until you remember that wanting a good grade and wanting to be recognized in the hallway are not necessarily the same ambition. A person may be entirely happy preparing the argument and much less eager to become its face.
Mark Mbogho described that hesitation to The Classic after playing Curtis Sliwa in the 2025 mayoral simulation. He had not initially wanted to be a candidate. His AP Government teacher persuaded him to try. He ended up enjoying people calling either his own name or his candidate’s name as he walked the halls.
There is a very high-school kind of fame: your classmates know who you are, although some are temporarily calling you something else. At least the confusion comes with a syllabus.
And there, waiting at the end of all this effort, is a younger student with a vote. A senior would appreciate a moment of their time. The freshman has come quite a long way since looking for the right door.