In a mock election at Northwestern Lehigh’s High School, Donald Trump was the decided winner with 62 percent of the vote.

Hillary Clinton garnered 27 percent of the ballots, 8 percent went to Gary Johnson and 3 percent went to Jill Stein.

“We had 355 students cast their votes which is 79 percent of those students who registered,” said Jeremy Smoyer who aggregated the data. “We had 28 more students vote in the NWL mock election this year than did in [the mock election of] 2012.”

Students voted the day before the national elections and the entire school learned the results before leaving the building Monday afternoon.

That was the goal for Smoyer, who built the four electronic voting machines used.

“I had a computer hooked up to the monitor in the lobby, so when I pushed an update at every change of class, the students could see that in real time,” Smoyer said. “By the end of the day everyone would know the results.”

Each student voted on a “Raspberry Pi computer,” a mini computer Smoyer constructed of laser cut plywood. “These are actually touch screen computers to make them more authentic,” he explained. “All the information and the [actual] tallying of the votes [went] to a Google spread sheet.

“It was all pre-coded. There [were] 50 different charts that indicated [information like] the student’s party affiliation, gender, grade level and candidate choice.”

“As students hit the final screen they cast the vote which was documented on a spread sheet,” said Smoyer. “They had to register on paper ballots closing [two Fridays ago]. Only students who registered could actually vote.

“There were people sitting at tables checking registration, simulating the real thing.”

The library was the designated polling place.

“We’re going to oversee the elections,” said librarian Tam Fitzgerald before the election took place. “We’re the official polling place. I closed the library so that the students would feel like they were entering a real polling place.”

The mock election was the result of hours of planning. “I talked to [social studies department chair] Paul Kleinert as to what information social studies wanted,” said Smoyer. “I started working on the code in the summer but the bulk of it was done starting in the fall.”

“I think it’s excellent we have so many staff members who were willing to pull this off for the election,” said Fitzgerald. “It takes everyone working together to have this happen for our students.”

Going into the election, interest never faltered.

“In this school a lot of people [were] paying attention. People [were] dialed in for this one,” said social studies teacher Dave Kerschner.

“This has been a powder keg election,” agreed his colleague Scott Hippensteel. “There’s been a higher level of discourse among the students and even jokes on both sides. The students appeared to be more engaged this year in this political atmosphere.”

Social media has been a game changer in Kerschner’s view.

“You see the two candidates constantly using social media,” he said. “When have you ever been able to get instant feedback about how candidates feel about things?”

“It’s a pretty powerful tool when used the right way.”

“Technology also impacted how students communicated about the election. It’s kind of amazing. Technology helps you be more informed [without] having to look at a TV,” he added.

“It’s a different world now,” said Hippensteel, who also teaches social studies. “Students digest information differently than how we did. Technology enhanced my delivery. I was able to let the students look at the electoral map on a continuum, to see how the Electoral College was changing.”

“During the debates, students, mostly juniors and seniors, would tweet at us. That was a way to have real time feedback,” said Kerschner. “It’s been awesome. We almost have a 100 followers. Students tweeted comments and articles. I [would] get notification if someone tweeted at us. The kids [were] very respectful, providing credible sources.”

Prior to the election, Hippensteel walked his students through how the Electoral College works, encouraging them to watch the debates.

“Pennsylvania is so important with 20 electoral votes,” said Hippensteel. “It’s a national election but the electoral process is a great example of federalism. The electoral college, good, bad or indifferent, is unique to America. The unknown is always a little bit scary so we try to take the unknown and make it understood.”

“Over half my students said they watched debates. They wished [the candidates] would have answered the questions. Students recognized the candidates were pivoting.”

Hippensteel said he and the students often consulted realclearpolitics.com.

“Weekly we [took] a look at the polls and at the electoral maps, often consulting realclearpoitics.com to examine the pros and cons and provide an all- encompassing view of the polls and to keep [focused on] the issues.

“There’s so much media out there that you can educate yourself.”

“We [did] a self-assessment of where each individual student falls on the political spectrum. Each [student] received a score indicating where and this was private,” said Hippensteel. “I saved that purposely for right before the election for themselves. Some will share [this information] but that’s their business.”

“In teaching world history, we talk about [topics like] the Middle East, trade, and Vladimir Putin and that leads to a discussion,” said Kerschner. “The students have been pretty thoughtful. They’re not just spewing out useless opinions.”

Though the election is now a matter of history, there are plenty of opportunities for additional learning.

“Obviously we will discuss the results in depth focusing on questions like will the Senate change hands and will power shift in the House and what the election will mean going forward for the U.S. government,” said Hippensteel.

“We just did an analysis of the 115th Congress and now we’ll see where the changes occur. I will [also] compare Northwestern’s results as a school to the national election figures.”

Smoyer said he created some 50 different charts to break down the voting which he made “available to everyone after the end of the day on Monday. Math classes could look at the data [which was] broken down to every gender and grade. I wanted [students and teachers] to be able to look at trends so they could analyze what actually happened in the school.”

“The process has become incredibly drawn out,” said Hippensteel.

“We’ve been talking about this for a year and a half. There’s fatigue because it’s such a long process.”

“The nomination process for both Mrs. Clinton and Mr. Trump was an incredible opportunity for our students to learn how things worked.

“My job is to help students understand the institution so that they could participate in the process.

“Government is an institution. Politics is a process and my job is to clarify the process, not to influences students views.”