She listened to the other students and who they would vote for, trying to let it help her make a decision, but she really just didn't know enough to pick someone. She squirmed in her seat in anticipation of her turn to speak. She knew she'd not have much to offer, but still needed to participate anyway lest the professor think she wasn't paying attention.

"I don't really know who I like most," she started, then shifted in her seat again. "I guess I don't really feel like I know enough to make an informed decision you know? And if you don't know enough, you really shouldn't vote - cause what if you overlooked something and contribute to a bad decision?" Her eyes shifted around the room once she was done, hoping she wouldn't be pushed into deciding anything just yet.

Who did he think was the best? As Kaiden thought, he heard Alexa's answer. Rolling his eyes, he raised his hand and looked to the girl. "Alexa, just because he gave you candy doesn't mean you should vote for him. I mean," he said looking to the professor. "He's not even from around here. What give him the right to decide things for the school?" The guy was just strange, why did he care?

"But... I think that Schirmer lady is probably the best. I mean, she's boring, but she seems to know stuff. And that old man too." what was his name? The guy that had donated his toad. "Mr. Sherman. He's pretty smart, and he's old so he knows lots of stuff too."

Gemma smiled as the various students shared their responses...and she even did a good job of keeping a smile on her face as more and more students mentioned the former professor running...what was it about that one...did they not know she was a liar and relationship breaker....but she did a good job smiling as they all listed names....she was very impressed by how well some of them had paid attention to the debates and the news.

Then she addressed a comment that a few of the students had shared, "Some of you are correct about not making a decision until you know more about the candidates, but remember that it's your responsibility to get to know the candidates better...and that means reading and researching the candidates and their platforms and being active in the debates and articles being published...and from that information you can feel a little bit more confident about which of the candidates fit what you think is most important." she said encouragingly and with lots of excitement...yes she was a dork...politics excited her and was an interest of hers...it was her anthropology background...societies had grown and fallen under single leaders and politics guided it all.

She walked towards the posters hanging around the room that were illuminated, "A great way to get out the word about your candidate is through propaganda or advertising. Many of you chose to do the extra credit assignment from our first homework and create amazing posters for yourself." she said with a little nod up and down before continuing, "These posters are from a variety of Muggle elections through the years and they helped frame an election and opinion about candidates and views." she said walking slowly to each one.



When she had finally made it to the front of the room, she smiled and said, "Is there one poster that stands out to your the most or that you find interesting or different? Does anyone make you more interested in learning or voting for an issue or candidate?" she asked the students always interested in their reply, "Or is there a poster that you can remember that made you exited about a candidate? Describe it to us."

Alyssa looked at the posters that Professor Cerulean displayed for all the students to see. Some were really, really, really old and some were just old. 'Weren't there any recent ones?' Alyssa thought to herself even as she looked through each one to see which one caught her eye.

Raising her hand, Alyssa gave her answer.

"Professor I have to admit that the FDR poster that says I Want You is eye catching, but I have to say that I found the one for Ulysses S Grant and Henry Wilson more compelling. Their slogan the Working Man's banner just told me that they were representing the Average Joe...the working class people, which is usually the main voter population. The poster also reminded people that they themselves were working class people themselves. A Tanner and a Shoemaker. That alone just tells me that they would work hard to make the country a better place to live in."

That was her reason why that poster stood out for her.

"It reminds me who I should be considering when I get to vote for the person who would best represent us in the Board of Governors. Someone who has our best interests at heart and who has the experience to do it."

Jory raised his hand. "The poster with the Owl was the one that caught my attention immediately, Professor,'' he said. "I think it's brilliant using the sound an owl makes and Hoover's name and them combining them together.'' He looked at the Obama poster. "But Mr. Obama's is also good. With the American colours and all. It could represent how dedicated he is to the country.''

Ella looked over the campaign posters thoughtfully and smiled a little at some. She knew some stuff about slogans after the protest assignment they'd had in History of Magic and she appreciated a good one. "Professor, I also liked the Hoover one. It was a clever." And Ella appreciated animals so yeah, the owl kind of sold it for her. If she was ever to run, maybe she'd use elephants in her own posters. Something like: An Ellaphant Never Forgets.

It was obvious she wasn't very enthused about this class right? She liked to think it was, so then, why did Kaiden choose to annoy her? The boy already knew that she thought he was a brainless idiot, wasn't that enough to keep him from talking to her? Especially since he was trying to correct her.

Pffft, who did he think he was?

"I can vote for anyone I want for any reason I want. It's my vote to do with what I please. I'm not telling you how to vote so don't tell me how to." If she didn't like the candidate then they just didn't have her vote--and yes she was aware that they wouldn't actually be voting. This just kinda annoyed her more. It didn't really matter so why did he think he needed to pull a West Odessa in this class? It didn't make him cool, it made him just as annoying.

"And there's nothing wrong with Mr. Vinteren. He's amazing in every way."

Now then. On to the Professor's question. She took a moment to look at each poster. Hmmmmmm...they all looked boring and ridiculous but if she had to choose...

"I like all the ones with blue in them Professor. Blue's a Pretty colour so I guess they'd be the ones to make me more interested in voting, which I'm not by the way because it's just adult stuff that isn't very much fun." She felt she needed to put that out there. Her Daddy was in charge of that kind of stuff. He should have been the one forced to attend these classes, then he'd be able to explain stuff to her and give her candy when her head started hurting.

"I liked the Coolidge one, Professor," Alice stated, swinging her legs against the chair. Her eyes were almost beginning to droop, but she'd promised Melanie she wouldn't fall asleep in Muggle Studies this term, so she blinked a couple of times and sat up straighter. "The slogan is legit. 'Keep cool with Coolidge.' I like it." What else? "It's the only one with a lady in it, too, right?" So that made it less boring than the others. Did that make any sense?

Whatever. Why were they staring at campaign posters again?

Hmm...posters? Sierra had seen a lot of those from time to time. Her father hadn't really needed any, but the position of Minister of Magic had just really fallen into place for him rather than him having to politic for it. He'd worked hard for it, though, and she couldn't deny that.

"There's a few with really catchy phrases," she pointed out, her hand raised. "Like...the 'Keep Cool with Coolidge' and 'Hoo-Hoo-Hoover' posters. Those are the ones that caught my eye first, because of the creative wording."

She knew her professor was right, but she just hadn't had the interest to learn more about the candidates yet. Maybe she would grab one of those overview brochures soon and look them all over. They can say whatever they want in those things though, so it's not like you'll ever really know what they intend to do in office. But it's not like they're going to be a world leader or anything so it's not the end of the world if I pick the wrong one. If there is such a thing as the wrong one.

She looked at all of the posters around the room and tried to see which she liked best. They're all pretty ugly to me...But I guess a few stand out in less ugly ways than others. "The owl one is definitely different from the rest, but I'm not sure it's in a good way. I like owls as much as the next girl, but it doesn't really say much about the candidate - other than hinting that he's wise maybe. But who can promise that really? I guess like the one with the working man's banner too. It at least tells a little more about their campaign angle. But...I don't think any of them are very pleasing to look at." She wasn't being rude really, they just weren't. She leaned back in her seat and started messing with her fingernails as she listened to the other students.

"Yes, you all have great reasons...notice that many of you mentioned the design or the colors...Colors can convey a mood or feeling from different people. For instance, red can signify passion or dedication. Blues are often related to politics and values. Yellow is warm, inspirational and is the happiest of all colors. Green represents freshness, security, tranquility and nature. Purple: Purple is the color of luxury, passion, sensuality, nobility and promotes a sense of depth. Gray is the color of architecture, neutrality, wisdom, intelligence and is very futuristic. Brown represents hearth and home, contentment, honesty and high virtues. Black: Black communicates clarity, creating a perception of seriousness, sophistication, glamour and prestige. White symbolizes purity, excellence, cleanness, clarity, simplicity and optimism." she said each color as she pointed it out in the various posters.. "So many times the colors are used to help sway different ideas from different people"

"Also, many of the posters have slogans on them...not all of them, but many of them do. These are catchy phrases that are a play on words that usually deal with the candidate's first or last name." she said motioning towards a couple of the examples, "These almost become battle cries for the candidate's supporters in rallies and in social media...these slogans help to make sure that the candidate is easily remembered....almost like a commercial found on Muggle television...sometimes the slogan has to do with their campaigns and sometimes they are just funny plays on their names."

She walked towards one of the tables and picked up the box in the middle and grabbed a sheet of paper, "You'll notice that at each of your tables, there is a plastic box with some basic items, such as construction paper, glue, markers, colored pencils, and scissors and sheets of paper....and many of you have extra supplies because the announcement for class encouraged you to bring supplies to class..." she placed the box and paper back on the table [/b]"And ya'll did smashingly bringing supplies, I seen beads and glitter and stars and stickers and lots more...[/b]" she paused and then continued, "If everyone will grab one of the sheets of paper and place your personal items on the ground." she waited for everyone to follow the directions, "Today I would like you to create a poster in support of your favorite candidate running for the Board of Governors...you can be as creative as you like, but remember that it must must must be school appropriate." she said as she walked up to the board and flipped it over. "Here is a list of the candidates still in the running for the Board, feel free to choose any one of the candidates and be creative and have fun. Your poster should include atleast their name and an image of them....I encourage you to remember the colors and what they convey and even try to think of a slogan that represents your candidate..." she said excitedly.



OOC: Okey dokey...I'm going to give you until late tomorrow night to create your poster...you can use a graphics program or Polyvore or whatever you would like! Have fun with these because we may be hanging these up in different places later on! Just RP your charrie making the poster and post it in here! Thanks everyone!

They got to make posters now? BEAM! Ella was quite excited about this part and she quickly got some paper and her items and moved to the ground where she had more room to work. Hmmm...Now to pick a candidate to create a poster for.

She was torn between Professor Schirmer and Mr. Clark. The reason being that while she really did think Professor Schirmer was the most qualified, Mr. Clark had a granddaughter in this school! One that Ella just happened to be besties for life with, duh! Oh and having someone you cared about in the school gave you even more reason to want the school to run smoothly and safely, yeah? Hmmm.

The blonde sat there quietly for a while and just tapped a marker on her blank paper, thinking.

Sarah looked at the posters... was that first one Abe Lincoln? Didn't he have a different hairstyle..lilke a hairstyle more similiar to the guy in the next poster? Sarah liked Abraham Lincoln. She liked him as she liked all the people that she got cool quotes from. She had three of his biographies... She loved the story about him an dthe footprints on the ceiling. Sarah wished that she were tall like him. Sarah seemed to remember Grant having more of a Belly. Hoo-hoo-hoover.. cool alliteration. Then the keep cool with coolige was also brilliant. That picture of Uncle Sam pointing a fingure saying "I want you", she recognized it. Oh yeah her mother had put it up in their kitchen and had added the subtitle "to clean up after you eat". Sarah continued looking at them... they were all pure propaganda. She had read a book on the elements of design as well as propaganda and most if not all of these posters were propaganda. That poster of Obama for example with his head looking upwards gave the viewer a message of "there will be a future and hope if you vote for me".

Alyssa listened as Professor Cerulean explained to them what each color represented and wondered why she was doing that....until the Professor told them that they were supposed to make a poster...in class...for the candidate they were supporting.

'Aaarrgghh!!...I have to make a poster for Professor Schirmer. I don't even know what colors best represent her.' Alyssa thought to herself. Putting all journal and writing materials on the ground to clear a space on the desk in front of her, she picked up a blank piece of paper and stared at it.

'Where to start? I guess first with her name, which is easy to write in but what about her picture? Aaarggghh!!' Alyssa rubbed her forehead with her hand as she stared at the paper in front of her.

Laura suddenly decided on the candidate that she wanted to do a poster for and she starting getting on with one, she looked at it every now and then to see what was going on but well she would finish it and keep with the first attempt, she hated having to redo something so she was making sure everything was how she wanted it, once she had finished she smiled, hopefully the Professor would like it.

Ella had settled on Mr. Clark after thinking it over and the blonde got comfortable so she could start her work. Lying on her stomach, she used her extensive doodling skills to make a very snappy cartoon version of the man and she proceeded to color him in. BEAM! He looked like a total super hero! Hey! He could be a super hero, one that was here to save Hogwarts!

Hmmmmm.

Every good super hero needed a power, yeah? Something to bring to the table? Well... what if Mr. Clark's power was...erm...a spark? Yeah! Cause Clark and Spark rhymed and people said that sometimes they had like a spark of genius! Mr. Clark could totally be the Spark of genius that the BoG needed! GRIN! What an awesome idea!

...

And after some time and effort, the blonde sat up and BEAMED at her poster. This was definitely something she'd be happy to have hung up. Would Hulk like it too?

Alyssa finally figured out how she was going to solve her dilemma. Pulling out an old yearbook, she turned to the staff page and picking up a pair of scissors, she cut out the photo of Professor Schirmer.

'Thank goodness, I have so much junk in my backpack.' she smiled to herself as she turned the photo and added glue to it before sticking it onto the blank sheet of paper. Once that was solved the rest was easy. Using the reference of colors that Professor Cerulean had told them, Alyssa busily added the various colors before adding the slogan and the name of her candidate. Then she added the little decorations, using the star stickers she had brought with her.

Once she was done, she sat back and looked at her poster. She hoped that Professor Schirmer wouldn't disapprove of the wordage. She had wanted to add more words like ask Professor Scabior for proof but figured that she would end up getting hexed for sure. So she just left it the way it was.

Why had she picked the colors and this specific slogan? Alyssa suspected that Professor Cerulean might ask her that question, so she formulated her reply.

First the grey outlining border represented how neutral and wise Professor Schirmer was in her thinking, plus she also represented what future Hogwart students could hope to achieve, working in the Ministry and all that good stuff. Then the black inner border and letterings represented her serious nature when it came to certain issues, which was what Alyssa liked about her. Alyssa had chosen a white background, because to her Professor Shirmer eptimoised excellence and optimism. Through her speeches she always looked at issues as if there was still hope for a better future. The glass was always half full not half empty.

She had used blue in some of her letters and along the top and bottom of her poster to represent Schirmer's values, which Alyssa always found to be just and sound. Plus since voting was almost political in nature, Alyssa couldn't leave that out.

The use of the color red and the word Red Hot basically said it all. In her campaign speech and during the debate, Althea Schirmer showed how passionate and dedicated she was in what she believed in. She loved Hogwarts and wanted to make it even better than what it already was.

Alyssa had used the color purple for her candidate's name to indicate that just because she was beautiful and blonde, that didn't mean that she was a dumb one. Inside all that beauty was also a very intelligent and hard working woman, and people needed to know that.

Jory was unsure of which candidate to use for his poster. Professor Schrimer was one of his favourites but so was Andrew Rose. After a while he finally decided he would go with Rose. Anyway, others seemed to have chosen the Professor as their favourite. And so he got to work.

The Puffer had noted down the meaning of the colours as Professor Cerulean mentioned them, plus he had a bit of that knowledge from Divination. He glued a picture of Rose onto a background of brightly coloured yellow and orange. After doing that, the letters were carefully drawn by pencil and then coloured. "Colouring can be such tough work,'' he thought as he worked on the sentence to the left of the picture.

.................

After what seemed like ages to Jory, the poster was finally completed. "I think this might be one of my best works.'' Hoestly, he wasn't that artistic.

Anya bit her lip. A poster. For one of the candidates. Well... if they were supporting someone... she should support her brother... right? This was a tough decision. She'd feel bad if her brother lost because of her.

Yeah... she should do a poster about her brother. She gave a definitive nod before going to get some paper.

She returned to her seat before trying to decide how best to do this. There were load of markers on the table... so... she'd do something with that. That sounded good.

She bit her bottom lip as she tried to visualize how to decorate the poster.

So winking, it was a good reason to only be paying the bare minimum of attention to things. Which was still enough attention, lets face it.

West squinted. Were there any posters from Britain there? No? He wasn't familiar with Muggle American stuff from over 70 years ago and beyond. He also wasn't so sure that posters had ever made him 'excited' about politics. Or whatever. But he was only fourteen after all. Posters made him excited about Quidditch sometimes...? But that was pretty much IT. Did that count?

Well. Having absorbed all that, West thought about it: Carter Phillips was the candidate he was gonna do. Easy choice on account of Quidditch. What colours? Red and Black and White sounded good to him, and simple. And also why not do it propaganda-y? Thats what this was about right? He even had ideas for slogans and whatever.

West grabbed parchment to work on rather than paper, and settled himself down with inks and paints and a ruler for straight lines until he'd finally finished the poster.

Done! Now what?

Sarah listened attentively. She had all this from a design book she had read. About colours and things. She didn't know what candidate to do though. She liked the candidates that wanted peer helping, more resources, career advice, extra curricular and all yet quite a few offered that. She was in a rather indecisive mood anyway so she decided to make a lottery. She found a scrap of paper and wrote out names on it Professor Schirmer, Nolan R., Sherman Clark and Carter Phillips were all entered in and she cut out the slips and rolled each into a ball. She then picked a random one... Althea Schirmer was the one she was going to make it for, although she still supported the rest.

Sarah then opened up a few daily prophets to get a good picture of Schirmer. Finally she found one... oooh Schirmer was pretty! What was her colour scheme? Sarah decided to use red as Schirmer was always mentioning passion and the things she was passionate about. She decided to use green as the complementry colour as not only did it match, yet Althea in Greek was a kind of shrub which was green.

Now for the lettering... Despite bringing her calligraphy pens, Sarah had not yet mastered that art and the art of neat handwriting in general. So instead she paged through the Daily Prophet and cut out the letters and text she needed. She then pasted them down with glue and painted over them with her green acrylic paint. She then stuck the picture of the Professor in the middle. She looked back and examined her artwork... not bad, yet could be better.

They had...to do...what?!

...but Sierra didn't really care about the candidates! Ehh...she supposed she did. She couldn't really say that she didn't care about them at all, but...ahh, okay, she'd make a poster. Now...who to feature?

She peered up at the list of candidates. There were a few she knew, mainly from her father. There was Professor Schirmer, who'd taught her Charms. Sierra actually really considered featuring her. Finally, she decided on somebody who'd stood out to her from the very beginning.

Erik Vinteren.

That man just seemed to be EVERYWHERE. He had the ambition, and if there was anything Slytherins appreciated, it was ambition. Power. Money. Winning. Well, ambition was what she was focusing on here. She chose to make it blue, too, since that stood for politics. Vinteren was all about some politics.

She spent the next part of class piecing together all sorts of supplies from contruction paper to markers to glue. Finally, she was finished with her poster.

The professor wondered around the room glancing at each of the posters and smiling at the students' creativity...and well some of them she just smiled at their lack there of...but atleast they were trying. When she finally got back to the front she walked to dry erase board and started writing out the homework assignment.

Once she had it posted, she turned back to the students and said, "Well that's it for this lesson!!! Your posters are perfect and I know they will def liven up and color the halls of Hogwarts!"

Alyssa looked at the homework assignment that Professor Cerulean had posted on the board. 'Okay duplicate and post around the school.Alyssa thought to herself as she began packing up the things she had brought to class into her backpack before slinging it over her backpack. She decided that she would start hanging up her campaign poster the moment she left class in the places with the most human traffic.

It was unfortunatel that the Professor didn't allow them to cast spells in the class or she would have duplicated her poster then and there using the Doubling Spell otherwise known as the Gemino Charm. Walking up to Professor Cerulean, Alyssa thanked her.

"Thank you Professor." Alyssa smiled her thanks before making her way out of the classroom.

West watched the homework get writ up and blinked. Errr... wait.

Hand up.

"Professor, I don't know the duplicating charm. Can you show it to me?" Because... for reals. He didn't know.