Every four years, our country holds a presidential election to elect the next leader of our country. While every election is special, some are particularly more interesting than others. This years presidential election was the most shocking election since 2000, when George W. Bush beat Al Gore.

Both candidates this year, Democrat Hillary Clinton and Republican Donald Trump, were especially unique in very different ways. Clinton is a true politician, and has been doing civic work for over 30 years. She is also a woman, and would have been the first female president.

Trump, on the other hand, never has been a politician, but is instead a businessman and the owner of a multi-million dollar corporate empire. This election has been defining for him as a businessman, politician, and public personality.

Even more defining, Trump won the presidency. For weeks, the polls had been predicting Clinton as the clear winner by a landslide.

“The polls were saying Clinton would with a very, very high lead,” said junior Dylan Ritchie. “At the same time, I figured there was a lot of people that hadn’t been saying they would vote for Trump that did.”

Even going into Tuesday morning, many citizens were confident in the fact that she would take to title as America’s first female president. However, events did not play out as expected.

“Going back to last spring, I believed Trump would win,” said Don Adams, social studies teacher at North. “There were moments along the way when it looked like controversies would be his undoing, but other than that he always seemed like the probable winner.”

North freshman Diego Smith also shared his prediction for the election. “I believe that Trump will win the election, even as disgusting and horrendous as that would be,” he said. “I say this because we are a very conservative nation.”

If you are a Bloomington North student, these were not the only election returns being waited for. In the days leading up to the election, students of North were able to cast their own vote in the school library. Although these votes didn’t count, it felt important to some students to share their opinion. Ritchie thought that Clinton would win.

“This is a pretty liberal school,” he said.

Clinton did win the North election, which was not very surprising. However, the results of this election were hurtful to some. For true Clinton supporters, the democratic win at North was frustrating when the general election turned out so differently.

“I am happy with the results because I know that we live in a college town, so I would assume that we would always be a Democratic town,” Smith said. “I am very upset with the [general] election because it shows some of the despicable people that live in America. It shows to the rest of the world how gross and ignorant we actually are.”

So, what is ahead for us? Many are unsure of the future, focusing on the fact that their world has been turned upside down by this election. Many are afraid for the future, focusing on the fact that as members of the LGBTQ+, Muslim, and immigrant communities or the middle to lower middle class, they could be threatened by the turnout of this election.

“I didn’t think that our country was this bigoted and hateful,” said Smith. “I believe that this will limit freedom and add hate to Latinos, Muslims, LGBTQ community members, and blacks.”

Realistically, though, people may not have as much of a reason to be afraid as they think.

“[It’s] unlikely,” Mr. Adams said. “Those are great campaign issues, but hard to actually pass. The wall in particular is simply not going to happen. Too expensive, too complicated. I could see changes in our immigration policies, but it would be surprising if he can pass a policy as restrictive as he has proposed.”

There is always a silver lining. As with everything, there could be a positive side to Trump’s presidency. If not anything about the way he governs, a positive could be the people’s reaction.

“The best part of American democracy is that you don’t always get your way,” Ritchie said. “You win some, you lose some.”

Whether you like Clinton or Trump, both stand for change in America; that is what we want and what they promised to bring. This election could open the public eye and unite many Americans to really stand up and fight for the causes they believe in.

“This was a particularly ugly election, certainly the ugliest of my lifetime,” Mr. Adams said. “But in the end we are all Americans, and it is important to move on in that spirit. Our founding fathers feared political parties because of just the sort of thing we have seen in this election. […] Hopefully we can let go of the hostility we have seen and engage one another constructively even when we disagree.”