As last month came to a close and as America got ready to elect its next president students at a local private elementary school voted overwhelmingly for the man who ended up winning the nation¡¦s highest office.Youngsters at St. John Christian Heritage Academy voted to the tune of 97.3 percent for U.S. Sen. Barack Obama (Dem., Ill.) a couple of weeks prior to the general election.
That was a percentage even higher than the anticipated 92 percent of the nation¡¦s Black vote some polls had said the Democratic nominee would get, but the tots at the school did accurately predict who would win the Nov. 4 General Election.
Although Sen. Obama handedly won the election (enjoying a landslide in Electoral College votes), he did not win in Oklahoma.
Oklahoma persisted in being a ¡§red state,¡¨ and voted for U.S. Sen. John McCain (Rep., Ariz.) by a 2 to 1 margin. The Republican nominee carried all of the state¡¦s 77 counties, and even outdid Arizona in voting for the man who lost the election.
Even so, it is believed that Blacks in Oklahoma voted overwhelmingly for the winner of the General Election: President-Elect Obama (voting more like the youngsters did at St. John Academy).
The actual vote at the private school that¡¦s supported by one of Oklahoma City¡¦s oldest Black congregations (the St. John Missionary Baptist Church) was unmistakably overwhelming.
It was 107 to 3.
That means that there¡¦s a less than 3 percent of students at the school who did not want the first Black nominee from a major political party to become president.
St. John Academy students held another election, and chose their own slate of student government officers.
The school did not release actual vote totals for candidates vying for positions in the Student Leadership Council, but these are the winners:
„P Austin Wagner (sixth grade), president.
„P Meli McKinney (fourth grade), vice president.
„P Makya Stell (fourth grade), secretary.
„P James Madden (sixth grade), treasurer.
„P Jordan Rambo, kindergarten representative.
„P Brooke West, kindergarten alternate.
„P Kilah Johnson, first grade representative.
„P Phoenix Moore, first grade alternate.
„P Lauren Roberts, second grade representative.
„P Mekiya Harris, second grade alternate.
„P Jada Berry, third grade representative.
„P Kierra James, third grade alternate.
„P Garrick Golden, fourth grade representative.
„P Sterling Alford, fourth grade alternate.
„P Tatiana Tucker, fifth grade representative.
„P Keyilah McCray, fifth grade alternate.
„P Arianna Fears, sixth grade representative.
„P Delaiah Canty, sixth grade alternate.
In addition to the elections held at the school, the students reported they have collected more than 400 canned food items in a campaign that got started a few weeks ago.
The items will be placed in food baskets, and will go to needy families, it was said.
Also, it was announced, the 32 youngsters in the Girl Scout troop at the academy are making plans to attend President-Elect Obama¡¦s inauguration next Jan. 20.
Christina Kirk, troop sponsor, said she is confident that the turnout for the trip to the U.S. Capitol will be at least 100 percent.
