George Mason High School - Mustang Yearbook (Falls Church, VA)

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The ‘“‘masked voter’ makes their choice for President. Cristina Mendoza pulls the lever to make her secret vote. president by Large ¥ tain Dominance im Tram Meenters 9 View (yucky on Bush te George Bush or Mike Dukakis? Which one should be the next President of the United States? This question was prominent in many of Americans’ minds this year. The race between the can- didates was a long and bitter battle to the end, filled with name- calling, negative cam- paign advertising, and many debates. The elections took place on the second Tuesday of November. The polls opened early in the morning and closed late at night. Local T.V. stations began to pre- dict the results early on in the evening. They predicted George Bush as the next Pres- ident of the United States; the next morn- ing it was confirmed. George Bush and his running mate Dan Quayle were inaugu- rated on the 20th of January.

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1988 — Election year. The battle was between the re- publicans George Bush Dan Quayle and the democrats Mike Dukakis Lloyd Bent- sen. The campaign turned into dirty name-calling. It was sometimes referred to as the dog-eat-dog cam- paign. The advertising cam- paign on T.V. was all neg- ative turning some voters away from the polls. There was a feeling from those who could vote that they were voting only for the bet- ter of the two, not for who they really liked. It was a difficult choice to make. The students were given the opportunity to vote at the end of October. Mrs. Er- in Albright, the government teacher, was in charge of or- ganizing the elections. One Rachel Phelps, Blair Cameron, Da- vid Cook, and Craig Sirkin wait pa- tiently in line to vote. Hannah Burke demonstrates how to use the voting booth to Steve Bowl- ing, Craig Sirkin, Christine Ploch, and David Cook. student elections tadeulé Make the Vote of the local T.V. static came to shoot footage t they later showed on the; The elections were a gr success. Those who wg not old enough to vote int elections on November 2 enjoyed the opportunity vote — their thoughts elections could be hea For those who were gq enough to really vote it good practice. The results were tallied the end of the day and 4 nounced. According to | students and faculty Mi Dukakis was favored to the elections. On Novem| 2nd, however, Mi Dukakis was not the vored. The country elec George Bush for Preside and his running mate D Quayle for Vice President

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Small schools certainly have their advantages, but along with the good comes the bad. One of the biggest disadvantages of our tiny population was the inevita- ble rumor mill — the grape- vine operated with impres- sive skills. It seemed as if within multi-seconds the whole school knew what had occurred. Five people armed with one juicy mor- sel had the entire school buzzing within minutes, es- pecially if they could speed dial the phone. Of course, there were drawbacks to this commu- nication system. For in- stance, the news was not al- ways accurate. Alyssa VanDuizend said, “It’s like playing telephone. By the time the rumor gets around to you, it’s never the truth.” The Bench, innocent as it seems, put many in the limelight of the day’s news. gossip Some “facts” were even a tad bit silly — was the NBA really considering drafting The Trees? To some, gossip was eve- rything for them; school would have been pointless without a liberal amount of news. Their ears were red from being held next to the telephone for hours on end. Their fingers ached from di- aling, and they grinned with pleasure at being in on the big secret (not a secret for long). To some, rumors were trivia, to others they were life. To everyone it was something to accept as part of Mason life. Ellen Carlson is shocked at the “news” she received in her note from a friend.