Author: Angela Billanti

Chatham students reflected on Donald Trump’s victory in the days following the 2016 election results.
“I think people are coming to terms with it a little more,” said Brooke Scheider, senior Biology major.  Scheider believes we cannot change the results at this point. When she found out about Trump’s victory, she felt scared, and does not remember any other election having this kind of impact on her or others.  

Mark Shorthouse, sophomore Interior Design major, wanted to put the blame on somebody for Trump’s victory.  He said he thought to himself, “How could this happen? I did my part by voting for Hillary.”  Shorthouse described this election’s results as frustrating because many of the polls he checked daily predicted a win for Hillary Clinton.  Shorthouse has cooled down since he initially heard the results, but he still has concerns about the future.
“I went from sheer panic to just like, whatever,” said Hope Sims-Medley, senior Music major.  Medley thinks people are trying to justify the results of this election by saying everything is okay.  Medley said, “Nothing is okay with this and I feel like you can’t fight fire with fire, but are you going to sit there and get burnt?”  Medley is standing her ground against Trump, and said, “I will burn this all down before you ship my ass back to Africa.”
An junior Education major from Barbados, Shantelle Bay said, “I was really depressed thinking ‘oh my god, what have these people done.’ I still don’t believe it today. Something doesn’t seem right.”  Bay thinks Trump tapped into the hate that people thought did not exist since we elected a black president.  “He seems a little far out there, but maybe he has one or two good policies that we have to dig deeper into, but he is such a negative and mean person.”
Cheyenne Fine, senior Interior Design major, said, “Yesterday I felt very defeated and angry at the American people. How could you vote for this person?”  Fine listened to Clinton’s concession speech and it helped her deal with Trump’s victory.  Clinton said, “Donald Trump is going to be our president.  We owe him an open mind and a chance.”
Bernie Sanders also inspired Fine to feel better about the results.  Fine said, ”I read Bernie Sanders’s statement and he said, ‘if he truly is going to be a president for all Americans we will work with him, but if he continues with the bigotry we will fight like hell,’ and that’s basically where I am right now.”

Kylie Fletcher, a sophomore studying Graphic Design and Cultural Studies, feels a lot better than she did.  “Yesterday was an emotional rollercoaster for

me, but today I’m excited because I realize everyone can come together and protect themselves,” said Fletcher.