After Donald Trump’s decisive victory in this month’s presidential election, many JR students and staff grappled with feelings of disappointment, despair, and anxiety for the future, while a few celebrated the outcome.
“I was in disbelief,” senior Kaianna Higa said. Like other students, she was originally hopeful that Harris could win, a feeling that soon turned to disappointment and shock.
“I felt sick to my stomach,” said senior Margo Lewis. Freshman Lulu Jorio said she felt similarly, “I felt sad, and I started crying because I was so mad. I just thought that we had a chance.”
In overwhelmingly democratic DC, Vice President Kamala Harris won 92.5 percent of the vote, slightly more than what President Joe Biden tallied in 2020 when he defeated Trump, who was the Republican incumbent at the time. Most JR students that The Beacon spoke with supported Harris.
For many students, the 2024 election was the first in which they were deeply involved. And for several seniors, it marked their first vote.
“I was super excited because it was my first time voting,” said senior Zara Dell-Bosak, who turned 18 two weeks before the Nov. 5 election. “After waking up and hearing the news, I was very disappointed. I thought everyone cared for their country as much as I did, so it was extremely upsetting to realize that Trump would be in office again.”
On the day after the election, some JR staff members arrived at school dressed in black, highlighting a shift in the school’s atmosphere.
“After the election, it is sad. It’s heavy. I can literally feel it,” AP US Government teacher Amy Collins said. “I just had a student leave the room wearing a shirt that says ‘My body is a battleground,’ and she’s sadly not wrong. I do not believe that there was a better presidential candidate than Kamala Harris.”
For many teachers, fears about a second Trump presidency hit close to home due to the former president’s outspoken views against public education.
“I know that there have been inflammatory comments about getting rid of the Department of Education or changing what things are funded,” biology teacher Rob Flack said. “There is a move toward ‘parents rights,’ which greatly interferes with the expertise of educators. I’m worried about those things, but it is really too soon to tell.”
Along with threats to defund public education, Trump has said that his administration intends to deport hundreds of thousands of undocumented immigrants, reverse climate action policies, and impose across-the-board tariffs on imported foreign goods. Some of these plans can be found in Project 2025, a presidential transition project written by the Heritage Foundation and a coalition of Republican organizations. While Trump distanced himself from the project during his campaign, some JR students expressed worries about its possible implementation.
“I know that it is not good for people of color,” freshman Zoe Robinson said.
Freshman Windsor Baker said she is concerned that the Trump administration and Project 2025 may negatively impact women and the LGBTQ community. “I feel a lot of people are going to be impacted, especially my friends who are women with the possible ban of abortion. I also have some trans friends and I feel their rights may be affected too,” Baker said.
Senior Maddie Aebersold-Burke, president of the Birds and the Bees Sexual Health Club, said the election results caused her to feel a mishmash of emotions of terror and sadness. “This is such an astronomical and insane loss for women all over the world, not just in America,” she said. She emphasized that along with being a convicted felon for falsifying tax records, Trump was recently found liable for sexual abuse.
However, other students said they were relieved when Trump won, and are optimistic about his policies.
“I hope that Trump pulls through on everything he has promised us, and to be honest, it already seems to be going well before he has even gotten into office,” senior Lucas Dimou said. Dimou said that he believes that Trump will boost job growth by promoting manufacturing and energy production. He also said he supports Trump’s plans for deporting undocumented immigrants and additionally securing the border. “The previous administration has simply let it get too out of hand,” he said.
Similarly, sophomore Frankie Biggs described feeling happy about the result because of possible changes in U.S. foreign policy. “I didn’t like how the previous administration has been doing things,” Biggs said. Biggs said that he was concerned that the United States was involved in conflicts in the Middle East and Ukraine “that all could easily lead to escalation.”
While upset about Trump’s victory, many students were not surprised. “Honestly, part of me did expect it.” Jorio said. Junior Silas Rhein said he “had a feeling Trump might win, but I still thought that people might vote for Harris in the end.”
On election night, Trump triumphed in all seven key “battleground” states, giving him 312 electoral votes to Harris’s 226. He also won the popular vote, the first Republican candidate to do so since George W. Bush in 2004.
Students felt the election exposed shortcomings in the Democratic Party. “Kamala Harris wasn’t able to attract the voter demographics that she wanted to, and that’s disappointing,” sophomore Arjun Bhat said.
Social studies teacher Robert Geremia said he urges students who feel discouraged after Trump’s victory to continue to “voice their feelings and voice protest in a productive manner.”
He said students can do this by “being involved in organizations that align with their thoughts and beliefs, or fighting for policies that they believe are important.”
