Electoral Elementary Jessica Marshall

Welcome to Electoral Elementary! Here's a quick clip of Gloria's first encounter with her civics gurus, Donkey and Elephant.

In this episode, Gloria is personally troubled by the school’s poorly managed crosswalk and has ideas to fix it. After she fails to get the principal’s interest, her new imaginary friends, Elephant and Donkey, convince her to write an initiative and collect signatures. Unfortunately, the students don’t share her urgency regarding campus safety issues and are primarily concerned with dodgeball games and hide-n-seek. Next, she attempts to lobby the student government, but she quickly realizes this group is dysfunctional and inundated with special interests (e.g., video games and painted fingernails). In a final musical number, Elephant and Donkey inspire Gloria to throw her hat in the ring for the student body presidential race.

Gloria is overwhelmed by the idea of running for student body president. She learns from Donkey and Elephant that she needs to canvas the students of Gouverneur Morris Elementary and convince them she has tons of ideas to make their experience at school better. Gloria will have to win the 5th grade nomination by debating the incumbent, Fred Tomlinson, who is shoo-in to win the presidential race again. Power-hungry Fred has held the office since 1st grade and no one has ever dared or cared to challenge him. Gloria struggles to wrap her head around the many stages of an election, so Donkey and Elephant harmonize the differences between a primary and caucus. But is it enough to inspire an apathetic electorate who is just looking for “pizza day, everyday?”

Gloria’s triumph over Fred Tomlinson has rattled the school. Arash Taheri, the school’s news man, interviews Gloria on his podcast to find out more about this miracle candidate. She introduces herself as someone with a real “drive” to bring change. Unfortunately, her performance is quickly forgotten when rumors swirl through the halls that she is a bedwetter. Gloria is thrown for a loop. She and her campaign team quickly see that she is losing support amongst the student body. And by the end of the week, it seems the race is extremely close between Gloria and the 2nd-grade candidate, Rickie Wall. Donkey and Elephant advise Gloria to use the principles of Freedom of Speech to her advantage.

After winning the general election, Gloria is encouraged by Donkey and Elephant to write a new school rule with the student council. Gloria runs into Jared and Sophia, GME’s LARPers, and she remembers their desire to wear their costumes to school. She pitches the idea of allowing kids to wear hats in class to the student council. Gloria believes passing this new rule will prove that she can get things done as student body president, unlike Fred. Of course, Gloria needs to learn how to pass a rule first.

Gloria meets Harriet Woodsworth, the student body “president” of a neighboring private school, at a dodgeball tournament. She observes that Harriet is able to make new rules at Whitehall Academy with just a verbal order. Gloria turns to Donkey and Elephant for suggestions as to how she could make new rules without the approval of the student council. They present her with the possibility of making an executive order for smaller changes. Listen in, as Gloria’s desire to appease the students of GME and make changes quickly gets her and her new power in a lot of trouble.