My name is Erika, and I'm a Senior at BASIS Oro Valley. I became a Jaguar in the school's opening year, when I was just in 6th grade. In the fall, I will be attending the University of Chicago, and I intend to major in political science.

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I decided to do my senior project on the election for a variety of reasons. The first being, I'm kind of in love with politics. Growing up, I think I watched more CNN than cartoons. The second is because this election meant a lot to me. It was the first election I could vote in (which I definitely did), and one of the first where I truly understood the massive amounts of political jargon uttered every night on TV. And finally, because the polarized feelings surrounding the election have tapped in to my teenage need for drama and excitement (even more so than the season 8 finale of Grey's Anatomy).

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Ultimately, I decided to do an analysis on the smaller elements of the election, and how they interrelate, after talking to a few of the connections I have in the political science world. While America seemed surprised, political scientists seemed less than shocked. Many of the friends I reached out to could point to events that took place throughout the election, and even back to 2008, that seemed to hint at the now known results of the election. And, although hindsight is 20/20,  I wanted to explore these events so I might know what to look for in the future, and understand how interconnected everything is.