Last Tuesday was the Election Day and as you all know Trump won against all odds. Maybe because his voters were more compromised to go and vote, or maybe because they felt uncomfortable to say out loud their choice before elections. As an international student, I am not the most suitable person to talk about this, but I consider that this same status give me an outsider view that could also be valuable.

I remember watching the debates and the elections in a big screen at the campus, people were really excited, some worried, others amused, but mostly committed. Through rigorous analysis, insights, jokes, and debate I can say that the atmosphere was thrilling and kind of inspiring. Although the political debate was based sometimes not on initiatives but in attacks, dumbing down the interchange of ideas, this is the election where people in every country have a position. In one-way or another, most of the eyes in the world were put in this election as we are talking about the first world power, with its flaws and its strengths.

Here in Maxwell most of the students were supporting Hillary, not because she was an ideal candidate, even though she presented enough credentials to do the job, but because Trump was worse, at least according to them, and me (maybe biased because of our public servant inclination). There are many things to say against her, as to almost every leader in the world, regardless their country of origin. But when we talk about Trump, as much as how phenomenal business and showman he could be, we just cannot see in him a real commitment for people but for power. It’s not just about what he says (as he chameleonically changes scripts), or about his political ideology, not even because of the particular policies that he proposed (with a few exceptions, of course). It’s about the bigotry and the intolerance that characterizes him as a person, turning by fear people’s nonconformity into hostility, creating more division.

Maybe USA is not ready for a woman president, or maybe is just raising its voice against the political status quo. The truth is that, whichever tip of the iceberg that you want to choose at the end, this is kind of an auto-imposed challenge for the country, with all the positive and negative outcomes that could bring.

Here in Maxwell, people have strong beliefs in social development and equality, that doesn’t mean that they are against efficiency and productivity. This feeling can be felt in every corner, from the professors to students, every quote on the wall and every statue are saying in one way or another that in order to achieve greatness we must be one single fist, unbreakable.

Wednesday morning I saw a few tears, but I also read some great posts in social media from local classmates, where they present themselves, as they are, Republicans or Democrats. Saying how they are going to deal with this. Saying how this is not the time for complains or regrets, but to fight for what they believe, today more than ever before. These are the future public servants, who make me think that this country could not only have a promising future but a promising present as them, and people like them right now in office, are going to defend the values that this school promotes.