These public high school students are not yet old enough to vote, but they had a lot to say about President Barack Obama’s State of the Union address.
Students at Hayfield Secondary School in Alexandria, Virginia, have been asked for the past few years by AP government teachers Ken Halla and Doug Zywiol to tweet their feedback to the president’s annual State of the Union address. Hundreds of tweets poured in from high school seniors during Tuesday night’s speech, until the hashtag #Hayfieldgovclass was trending.
The teachers told The Huffington Post that the assignment gets students excited about the speech. Students who don’t have access to Twitter get alternative homework. This year, the teachers said students seemed especially interested in Obama’s idea to make community college free.
“As seniors, they seemed very interested in hearing what he had to say” about community college, Halla said by phone. “There seemed to be kind of a spike in the tweets.”
The tweets reveal how teens felt about the president and the nation’s pressing issues. Here are some of their comments:
im still ticked off about women getting paid less than men. If anything i feel like that would be the easiest to change #hayfieldgovclass
— Timothy Vales (@NegaTIMity) January 21, 2015
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Some dont like Obama butting in other country’s business but i feel like its the job of the president to do exactly that #HayfieldGovClass
— Timothy Vales (@NegaTIMity) January 21, 2015
Aye Obeezy, can you ask Michelle to give us our cookies back from last year? I really miss those joints… #hayfieldgovclass
— Mr. Clutch (@NickLaFlair) January 21, 2015
I really just want my cookies back
