Students at École St. Patrick High School held a mock vote before Yellowknife’s municipal election on Oct. 14.
The students lined up at polling stations around the school to choose their preferred candidates.
Before casting ballots, they were presented with videos of all 16 candidates describing their platforms.
Thea Campbell, who teaches Grade 9 students social studies, helped organize the event and coordinated student volunteers.
“I thought the event went very, very well. It’s a lot of organizing to get 500-plus kids through polling stations in 40 minutes. I like to call it controlled democratic chaos.” Campbell said. “They all knew where to go, and it went really smoothly. The (student) workers were very well trained. It was a great exercise in democracy for our kids.”
Campbell praised the efforts of her students, who kept polling stations functional to help make the event run smoothly.
“I’m so proud of our students at St. Pat’s. That’s a big, big job for Grade 9s to take on. They’re pretty young, and the Grade 12s were an excellent support.”
The school released the results of the mock poll on Tuesday morning and here’s who the student body felt was top-eight material:
Stacie Smith — 208
Garett Cochrane — 193
Steve Payne — 160
Rob Foote — 125
Mike Martin — 117
Cat McGurk — 115
Ben Hendriksen — 107
Ryan Fequet — 104
Source: St. Pat’s High School
