It’s about that time of the year for an overwhelming amount of politics as the presidential debates are kick-starting the upcoming elections. This year’s third Republican debate was held in Boulder, Colorado at the University of Colorado. Students and politicians gathered as this controversial debate commenced, and others took it as an opportunity to speak their mind. The people of Boulder and surrounding cities took advantage of this live, televised event to approach issues they thought needed addressing. Whether it was an elaborate blow up elephant or a massive paper mache puppet making its way across Farrand Field, this was an eventful evening for all of the Boulder students to witness.

I took the liberty to ask a few of our very own Kadet Alumni for their opinions and experience while on campus during this debate. Former Kadet and current freshman Buffalo, Jessica Hendricks, had a lot to say on the matter. “I haven’t met anyone who was for a Republican participating in the debate in Boulder.  Only 50 students out of 30,000 were allowed to go, so there were protesters… it’s easier to find a raccoon in Boulder than it is to find a Republican, so everyone took it as a joke. There were airplanes saying that the GOP has a #KOCHProblem… there were Republicans on ‘The Hill’ with signs … it wasn’t a very positive thing to come to Boulder,” she said. In addition to this negative atmosphere, Hendricks also had complaints on how the debate disrupted their curriculum. “It was really inconvenient because they wouldn’t let students park on campus and everyone had to move their cars, they had to change the bus schedule so everyone was late to class,” she said.

Another student at Boulder  was more involved in the debate and saw a different aspect of the event. Former Kadet and current CU Junior, Sara Levens stated, “I feel it’s important to be an active participant in this type of event. When I heard Boulder would be hosting the third GOP Debate, I knew that I’d be doing something. I know that the student population was dissatisfied with the limited number of student tickets allotted, but regardless of your political partiality, a debate like this is an historic event and I think it’s important to be an active participant.” Levens participated by volunteering at one of the candidate’s booths, though she was not among the few students who actually got to attend the debate in person.

Colorado is a swing state and has a very crucial part in this upcoming election. Many believe this is why the debate was held in Boulder despite its predominantly Democratic beliefs. You might think that none of this matters, high-schoolers don’t vote, right? But don’t forget that politics will always affect you no matter your age, and believe it or not many seniors this year and maybe even some juniors are going to have the opportunity to vote at the next election. Republican, Democratic, or undecided, my advice is to pay attention; every debate is important.