By ABBY GROFF
Staff Writer
As teenagers near adulthood, we begin to realize we are soon to face a variety of responsibilities such as finding a career, building our credit, purchasing a home, and so on. But what about exercising our right to vote for the very first time? When is it appropriate to start researching political ideologies going into our adult lives? For many teens, that’s already begun.
In 2016 I was only twelve years old and already hearing so much about the presidential race between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton. At the time I didn’t really care. Why should I? It wouldn’t affect me anyways. Four years later and my perspective has changed drastically.
This year was the most involved I had ever been with politics, despite only being sixteen and unable to vote. I learned so much through research, asking questions, and just simply being a free thinker. The journey was long and mentally exhausting. Once the evening of November 3rd arrived, I was on my laptop watching this election for hours straight, no matter how boring it got. This being my first time actually interested in the results, I wasn’t sure what to expect. Would we know late that night? Would we know the morning after? I had no idea it would be days until we found out the United States would elect Joe Biden as our 46th President. I checked which states were red and which states were blue more than I checked my own grades. I had to know.
Finally, on November 7th, it was confirmed. Unfortunately, I woke up forty-six minutes exactly after the notification popped up on my phone, but it was the most wonderful thing to wake up to. After days of anticipation, the waiting paid off. I called my best friend, so excited to talk about the news. This feeling I had was surreal. It was unlike anything else. I was feeling bursts of happiness and hope. Hope that finally this country would heal and feel united again as it should. Sure, the following months are going to be rocky (that’s a whole different story), but for the first time I felt genuinely proud to be American as I began to understand why we cherish our democracy.