Now that the primaries of Westside’s American government class are over, the presidential candidates have been nominated. Seniors Sam Jensen (Conservative), Tom Schueneman (Liberal), and Brady Novak (Independent) were the nominees for each party. The process to become president in the American Government class is lengthy and challenging.

After the social studies department dropped the required freshman civics course from its curriculum after the 2010-2011 school year, they decided to delay the teaching of the government and all its components until senior year.

“With freshmen, a lot of the concepts we are dealing with are very abstract, and trying to get a freshman to really connect and understand how the government affects their lives is pretty difficult for them,” Preister said. “They could learn the content, but it wasn’t really applicable to them. As seniors, they’re within a year voting [age], and some of them are already able to vote. We thought it was much more relevant to them [seniors].”

In civics, they used to hold mock elections too. But compared to the elections in civics, the ones being held in American government are more intense.

“The level of understanding is much greater than it was in civics,” Preister said. “I student taught when we did this [held elections] in civics, and it was complicated and the level of interest was really low.  One of the first things that pops out as we’re doing this in American government is the level of interest. [The students] are all participating, and the level of apathy is almost non-existent.”

The campaign managers in the election also played a helpful role when it came to securing the primaries. Schueneman’s former campaign manager, senior Aaron Murray, went above and beyond in his bold, cunning and ultimately successful campaign strategies. On the night before the primaries were held, Murray took to the application Snapchat to send a series of “advertisement” videos in which he urged the voters to vote for Schueneman, using his sense of humor.

The general elections will be held Nov. 27, 2013, where Schueneman and Jensen will go head-to-head for the coveted title of president.