With a resounding Donald Trump victory, the outcome of the U.S. presidential election has been the talk of the town at Kamala Harris’s alma mater in Montreal.
Westmount High School student Kadiatou Barrie, 14, was disappointed when she woke up Wednesday morning to learn that Harris will not take the top job at the White House. But the teen says she respects the results.
“I thought Kamala Harris was what America needed, like really badly,” Barrie said. “But if they wanted Trump, I guess that’s what they want.”
Long before she became an American vice-president and presidential candidate, Harris spent several years in the Canadian city as a teenager. She attended Westmount High for three years and graduated in 1981.
Harris moved to Montreal so her mother Shyamala Gopalan, a breast cancer researcher, could work at the Lady Davis Institute of the city’s Jewish General Hospital. After an initial stint at a French-language school, Harris enrolled at Westmount.
The English Montreal School Board issued a statement congratulating Harris on becoming vice-president-elect in 2020 that included a photo of students holding up hand-drawn posters reading “Congratulations Kamala! Class of ’81!”
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Barrie says she is among many students at Harris’s old stomping grounds who were hoping for a different outcome this week.
But the seasoned politician’s career has been an inspiration for many, according to the teen.
“I’m very proud of her,” Barrie said. “And she has still influenced many young girls to chase their dreams and just be amazing.”
Aminata Diallo, who also attends Westmount High School, was closely watching the election results roll in with her parents when she had to go to bed Tuesday night. She hoped Harris would make a comeback.
The outcome was what both staff and students talked about across the school the next day, hours before Harris would deliver her concession speech in which she urged Americans to not despair and “keep fighting” for the promise of a brighter future.
“Everyone I talked to is disappointed. We were looking forward to the alumni of our school being the president of the United States,” 14-year-old Diallo said.
“Hopefully she runs again in 2028.”
Those who walked the same hallways as Harris are hopeful she will one day be at the helm of American leadership and feel a sense of pride that she nearly became president.
“I think she should run again in the next four years,” Barrie said.
— with files from The Canadian Press
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