Donald Trump to attend Iowa high school's homecoming
When students at Urbandale High School found out that Donald Trump was coming to their school this weekend they were thrilled.
"I was just yelling, yes, YES!"said Nathan Spicer, a 17-year-old senior at Urbandale High, who described himself as "elated." He said jumped out of his chair this morning at an assembly when it was announced that Trump would be coming to their high school on Saturday.
About three weeks ago, Spicer's government class decided to use to Twitter to ask presidential candidates to come to their homecoming dance -- calling it a "PresiDance."
"Really, it started as a joke," explained Anne La Pietra, an Urbandale High government teacher. "I just kind of had the idea in class, tweeting at candidates to invite them and then the students took it on and just went crazy. They started contacting all of the candidates and the media."
Le Peitra, who has taught at the school for four years, spent her own high school years in Iowa, but wasn't politically engaged until college, when she started taking government classes. This project was a way to get the students excited to learn more about politics from firsthand experience - and away from the TV ads that are beginning to inundate Iowa airwaves. Trump's campaign thought it was a neat idea, too, so staffers figured out how to work the homecoming visit into his schedule.
"Students really wanted to see how they could actually get involved in the process and that it is not an obscure movement, that they are a part of it, and they can see how it work," La Pietra said. "Their actions can bring to light how they can be involved in government."
The students tweeted with the hashtag #UHSPresiDance, emailed the candidates and made calls to the candidates Iowa offices. But they also made an extra effort to entice Trump by putting a helicopter landing pad for Trump on the school grounds.
@UrbandaleSchool UHS Ss Welcome PrezCandidate Donald Trump #UHSPresiDance http://t.co/tYdqfpcYXS Event ≠ endorsement pic.twitter.com/Q47OIgVXup
— Urbandale Schools (@UrbandaleSchool) September 17, 2015
"I was convinced it was not going to happen because we had not heard anything, and it seemed like it was slowing down to this point," Spicer said during a study hall Thursday. Spicer hasn't attended every homecoming dance since he was a freshman, but "this is a reason to go," he said.
Some 600-800 students are expected to attend homecoming this weekend - all decked out for the dance and their visit with a presidential candidate. Trump does not plan to groove with students at the actual homecoming dance itself, but he will address them just before they hit the dance floor.