By Tristan Weisenbach and Ally Uhlendorf
Managing Editors
The 2024 election was many college students’ first time voting for the president, and was a crucial turning point in their adult lives. The Signal asked various students at the College to share their feelings in one word, and then elaborate on why.
Carl White, freshman electrical engineering major (Photo by Tristan Weisenbach).
“Shell-shocked.”
“After just seeing the results, I really had to take a step back and say, ‘wow, this is the election, this is how it went down,’” White said, “And then thinking about me as a freshman, these are the next four years of my life. So whoever won, those people are gonna be who’s in office for the next four years of my time here at TCNJ.”
Jared Williams, senior political science major (Photo by Tristan Weisenbach).
“Startled.”
“It’s not exactly what I expected, especially in terms of it being a landslide victory for President Donald Trump,” Williams said, “so I was pretty startled to see that the election turned out that way. I thought it would be more closer — whoever won I thought it would have been close.”
Ruby Tran, sophomore psychology major (Photo by Tristan Weisenbach).
“Despondent.”
“With how the election started, he was already in the running lead, but I had the smallest hope that maybe I would wake up and it would be different, and then it wasn’t,” Tran said. “And I already know Project 2025 and such, and we can only hope from here honestly.”
Mia Shustack, freshman undeclared major (Photo by Tristan Weisenbach).
“Horrified.”
“It’s hard to believe that over half of America voted for the person that they did,” Shustack said.
John Van Horn, freshman history secondary education major (Photo by Tristan Weisenbach).
“Confident.”
“I feel confident that regardless of political affiliations or who you voted for that relationships will be kept,” Van Horn said. “Keep your friends close and we’ll get through this together.”
Rishi Nagireddy, sophomore political science major (Photo by Tristan Weisenbach).
“Super happy.”
“I’m just happy that the election went our way, meaning Donald Trump, he had a great turnout in this election — he won most of the swing states, he changed his approach from the last time he ran,” Nagireddy said.
Kate Clifford, senior nursing major (Photo by Tristan Weisenbach).
“Disappointed.”
“I’m disappointed because I thought as a country we were in better moral standing, and I didn’t really think it was a possibility for this to be the outcome,” Clifford said.
Nikolas Chernyshev, senior interactive multimedia major (Photo by Tristan Weisenbach).
“Weary.”
“I don’t know what to expect of the next four years of the next upcoming presidency, and a lot of people have been having a lot of mixed reactions,” Chernyshev said, “so personally, all I can do is just sit and wait and see what happens and react accordingly.”
