Ahead of the first presidential debate, Middle School students were advocating on behalf of their favorite candidates — in this case, a flavor of ice cream or sorbet. Along the way, they learned about creating a short stump speech and a print ad and how to compose a campaign jingle.

Middle School Social Studies Teacher Erin Timmer said the seventh and eighth grade teaching team wanted students to learn more about elections in general so they can better understand what they’re hearing about the current race. Here is her report:

“We started by running the students through a series of teacher-led workshops on topics that included differentiating fact from opinion, the use of propaganda and techniques, the electoral college, the history of political parties in the United States, the influence of Enlightenment thinkers on the current political climate, and an analysis of how to win elections.

“Then, students were split into five teams and assigned an ice cream flavor as a candidate. They were given 30 minutes to create a campaign using what they had learned.

“Each group presented its campaign, and the groups were masterful in their use of propaganda — mango sorbet, for example, attempted to convince voters that only their flavor was inclusive of everyone since it doesn’t contain lactose or dairy. Meanwhile, chocolate billed itself as the building block of all of the other flavors, and cookies and cream said it was “the American Dream.” Finally, students were split into different-sized voting blocks — to mimic the electoral college — to vote.

“While mango sorbet easily won the popular vote, mint chocolate chip won the largest voting bloc, taking all 25 electoral votes and winning the election.”

As for the voters, not all were satisfied with the results. One student submitted a ballot that read “the election was rigged.” Hmm.