Bronx Students Excited, Nervous Over Obama

‘I just hope that he keeps his word’

At Validus Preparatory Academy, a new publichigh school in the poorest congressional district in America, studentshave kept journals since the early primaries, created election art,studied opinion polls in math classes, designed brochures on theissues, read memoirs by the candidates and even delivered speeches intheir stead. And after the principal dashed around to plumbing supplystores for enough PVC pipe to build a voting booth, they got a chanceto punch their own electronic ballots in a national mock election forstudents. Being sosteeped in the presidential race, the students at this predominantlyAfrican-American and Hispanic school on Bathgate Avenue are a little onedge about the outcome.”If Obama doesn’t win, it’s a big disappointment,” said Dorian Whyte,18, who moved to New York City from Jamaica. “And I think if he doeswin, also, it can be a disappointment, if he doesn’t deliver.”

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2008-11-02