Moeller Students and Teachers: Preparing for the Midterm Election

Integrity, accountability, and putting people first. As the November midterms approach, students and faculty at Archbishop Moeller High School are looking beyond party lines to determine which candidates deserve their votes. For many, the decision comes down to one question: Do these candidates share the values they believe a leader should have?

For Eli Tivin, a social studies teacher at Moeller, he looks for selective qualities that are important to him. As he stated, he will be searching for "accountability, integrity, and respect." These values are significant to him as he researches prior to the midterms. From this, it’s clear that Mr. Tivin is someone who values strong leadership integrity, as well as candidates who align with his own values.

Connor Bowman, a student, said in an interview that he looks for qualities that match his own. He states that candidates should be self-reliant and not take bribes or significant donations from external organizations. This is important to Connor since he believes it makes candidates look cheap and stingy; values that he does not want running for office.

Going back to Mr. Tivin, he is somebody who doesn't want violence in any sort of manner. As he put it, "conflict is never good" and should not be tolerated. This will influence his choices in candidates as it could be a significant factor to know who is supporting any international wars or other kinds of violence. Based on the interviews, it's clearly seen how important it is to be aware of candidates and whose values align with one’s own.

Devlin Steele, another student at Moeller, spoke about who he will vote for, as well as the values he looks for in the candidates. He talked about integrity, similarly to Eli Tivin, as well as what choices he makes when deciding who to vote for. He stated that he wants somebody who looks out for the people, and makes decisions because of the people, not instead of the people.

As seen by many people, voters at Moeller high school are looking for candidates in the midterms who not only align with their personal beliefs and values, but who have respect and integrity in each of their decisions. For some people in the next election, their votes will be bipartisan or based around their environments and people around them. But for students and faculty at Moeller, plenty will be making unique decisions and choosing candidates who fit their values and moral beliefs.