Several Skyline students participated in the US Presidential Candidate Debate Watch Party, co-hosted by Umoja-ASTEP, Puente, Kababayan Learning Community (KLC) and Associated Students of Skyline College (ASSC), at the Fireside Dining Room in Building 6 on Sept. 10.

The watch party raised different concerns and garnered diverse opinions from the attendees, as both presidential candidates threw each other off with intense counter-arguments.

There were also instances where former President Donald Trump was fact-checked multiple times by ABC News moderators David Muir and Linsey Davis.

“The way that I describe it is like two divorced parents fighting over the custody of the United States, because you can really see how when they’re talking, they’re really speaking to… the audience of the debate [the US] rather than with each other,” said the president of the Filipino Student Union, Cem Quinto.

Quinto said he thought that everyone attending the watch party had already made up their minds prior to attending, but he took it as an interesting opportunity to discuss and discern some of the pressing issues in the country. 

He added that attending the debate was an opportunity to hear things, not just in his own environment, but also while interacting  with his fellow students.

Skyline student and first-time presidential debate viewer Miriam Gil Alvarez said that watching the debate was an interesting and helpful way to experience how politics works. 

“This is my first time voting, so [it’s] my first time really seeing what really goes beyond our government,” Alvarez said. “People always talk about it, but you don’t really know unless you’re actually doing something, and I feel like with the presidential debate, it’ll be a chance to see what people actually talk about.”

Alvarez said that the event is also important for the immigrants and international students who have diverse thoughts in leadership, as they witnessed the differences between the United States and their home country.

Before the debate, ASSC representative Maennie Gaddi said that she was looking forward to seeing Harris’ responses on the topic of immigration.  

“Especially [as] someone who is a woman of color, I really want to see what she (Harris) does something about immigration and for people who don’t even have papers to be here,” Gaddi said. “What can she really do to support them?  What can she really offer?” 

Gaddi said that she hopes students will actually take the presidential candidate debate into consideration.

“Honestly, in this generation, we are not as educated, or interested in this type of stuff,” Gaddi said. “We have this mindset of ‘go with the flow’, with no sense of knowing what is really happening in our country.”

Another ASSC representative, Sophia Escobar, said that this event could help motivate people to start caring about who leads the country and promote the importance of voting. She said the watch party was crucial to motivate them to register and vote because who leads the country and county are all very important. 

Another Skyline student, Ken Reyes, said that if given the chance, he would propose talks on the candidates regarding the heightening problem of tuition fee and price hikes in the Bay Area and in all of the United States.

“Even before the tuition hikes, tuition was really hard [to pay], unless you get financial aid support or you get scholarships,” Reyes said. “Most of us, especially immigrants, have a hard time going to college because of financial barriers.”

Based on his personal experience, Reyes said that he had seen his peers prefer to work and earn money first before pursuing their dreams; the only reason why they did that was because college was so hard to afford.

The debate ended after 1 hour and 45 minutes of exchange of ideas and rebuttals from both candidates.