By Emily Cole

Contributing Writer

“You are listening to The Shark Simmons College Radio. It is November 8, 2016. I am Len Mailloux and welcome to our 2016 election coverage,” Professor Mailloux spoke into the Studio A microphone for the world to hear.

Students from all areas of the Communications Department had gathered to watch the results of the Presidential election and specifically, to look at it globally. In the Comm Lab, every student sat at a computer monitoring news outlets around the world—Al Jazeera, the Guardian, YNet, and more.

Meanwhile in the radio station, Mailloux sat at the mixing board and microphone in Studio A with Dannie Annecston as his co-host and Caroline Mahoney, Caitlin Bowers, and myself manning the microphones and board in Studio B.

This is the third time Simmons College radio has broadcasted the presidential election—both the national results and the international reaction.

The night began casually, with everyone in high spirits. The station went live at roughly 7:30 p.m. EST with only a few states reporting their results and several more closing their polls at 8:00 p.m. EST. For the first half hour, students came into the studio from the Comm Lab and reported on articles they had found about International reactions to the election prospect.

Simmons junior, Emily Papp, went on air to talk about London: stating that 69 percent of people polled wanted Hillary Clinton to win, while only 31 percent wanted Donald Trump.

Another student came in to discuss what she had read on CBC, Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. She explained that the leaders of Alberta were not in favor of either candidate due to financial and oil aspects.

The station gave students a chance to go on air and report what they had found and come together as a community to await the decision that will affect us for the next four years.

At eight, the results came pouring in from the east coast. Hillary Clinton took a commanding lead. Mailloux and the students in the radio updated the listeners regularly when states were called for a candidate and how swing states like Florida, Ohio and North Carolina seemed to be, well, swinging. Students from the Comm Lab came in frequently to report on what they had found from sources around the world.

The students working in the Comm Lab were excited and enjoyed experiencing this election in a group.

“I’m anxious. I’m excited. All these different emotions are coming up, but having my peers here it’s a lot more comforting because we’re all in this together and whatever happens happens but I’m happy to be doing it in a group,” said Maya Valentine, a sophomore covering Al Jazeera.

Even Mailloux, who had covered many elections in many stations, was thrilled to be at “The Shark” that night. “This is great fun. We’ve got cookies in the Comm lab and we’re having a great time, especially since so many of our students voted for the very first time today. This has been a great time to get together to share thoughts and ideas and reactions to the experience,” he stated.

Around 11:30 p.m., most people had gone home. Mailloux and a few other students continued to look at international news sources, but those who were still on the air were also quite consumed by the Trump-leaning electoral map. Feeling uncertain but connected to the rest of the world, the air team signed off and went home to await the final call.

And so Mailloux signed off on Tuesday night, “This is The Shark Simmons College Radio, wishing you a great evening.”