ManufactuRed Housing - The Taft School

For more photosor informationabout events oncampus, please visitTaftSchool.org.Around the pondby Joe FreemanDemocracy in ActionStudents in Rachael Ryan’s APGovernment classes awakened long beforethe first bell on January 7, to pileinto buses and take a three-hour journeyto New Hampshire, where they becamefirst-hand witnesses to presidentialpolitics on the eve of the nation’s firstprimary. Students spent the day attendingrallies for Senator John McCain andSenator Hillary Clinton. Given theirage and exuberance, many of them wereasked to fill coveted places on the risersbehind candidates.As pictures of Tafties streamed outon CNN, MSNBC and the New YorkTimes website, Taft students witnessedthe energy, spirit and subtle imagecraftingthat lies at the center of a majorpolitical campaign. Ryan described theevent as “one of the most exciting racesin recent history and a once in a lifetimeopportunity to see, hear and meetHillary Clinton and John McCain.”Harrison Siegel ’08 noted the “unbelievableresponse that people hadwhen they saw the candidates. It showedme that as long as people cared, no matterwho the president is, our countrywill have a chance to succeed. It was alsoenlightening to see how money affects acampaign, from Hillary’s polished andcontrolled rally to McCain’s impromptuspeech on the steps of a courthouse.”“Listening to the candidates’ speeches,”said senior Emily Gumbulevich,“made me realize how much the nextpresident’s term will affect my life as Iheard the vast changes that both senatorshope to make in the next four years.”j Seniors CarissaBloosom andFei Zheng meetSenator HillaryClinton during theNew HampshirePrimary.Taft Bulletin Spring 2008