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:
#hayfieldgovclass I hope everyone realizes the reason there's a gender wage gap is because more men choose to be in better paying fields.
— Evan Smoot (@evansmoot) January 21, 2015
Why can't we all be purple states and find a happy medium? 💜🇺🇸 #HayfieldGovClass
— MacKenzie Bellimam (@KenzieBell15) January 21, 2015
Preach 🙌 women have the choice! Regardless abortion, child custody, body image, etc. #prochoice #hayfieldgovclass
— MacKenzie Bellimam (@KenzieBell15) January 21, 2015
Remember that the torture reports stated that incidents of sexual assault occurred at the hand of CIA officials #hayfieldgovclass
— Katie Flowers (@Katie_Ladybug_) January 21, 2015
Think before you believe what the media is telling you! Thanks for bringing that up Obama #hayfieldgovclass
— Katie Flowers (@Katie_Ladybug_) January 21, 2015