Looking for a free elective course for next semester? Well, this course might be for you: Quest for the Presidency. This is a course only offered every 4 years, which explains the process of running for president from the announcement of candidacy through the general election. This course is great for students with an interest in history and politics as it is a discussion based course going over everything going on with our current election, and will help students better understand the intricacy of a general election and will also help them make a more educated decision when we all have to vote next fall.

I had the chance to talk to the Professor of the course, Richard Padova, and we went over what this course will actually get into and what he hopes the students can take away from the course.

He says, “What we do is we look at the current presidential election, and that forms a good part of the weekly discussion, like who the candidates are, what issues they are running on, and what are the issues out there that the public is asking to be addressed. The other part of the course is an overall history of presidential elections and campaigns of our country, from our very first election up until now, because it was done a lot differently in earlier times than the way things are done today.”

When asked “What should students expect to come away with after taking this course?” Professor Padova replied, “ I hope that students come away from this class, at the very least, having a better understanding of our system here for how we elect our leader, because it is unique for better or for worse. We have to understand it, if we’re all going to be voters selecting our next leader as this person will impact our lives for years to come.”.

If you are undecided on what your schedule is next semester, consider talking to your adviser and seeing if it’s possible to fit in History 255 as a course as it counts as a free elective, history/government elective and a liberal arts elective as well. The prerequisites for the course are English 101 or Reading and writing 090. Next semester this course will meet on Mondays and Wednesdays at 12:30-1:45 on the Haverhill campus.