Groups of Castleton students gathered under the dim lights in the Spartan Room on Nov. 6.  Food and drinks covered the tables and discussions of economics, war and football filled the air. But they gathered because they wanted to know one thing: Who would be the next president?

Earlier in the day, the Castleton community flocked to the campus’ Fine Arts Center to vote for their local, statewide, and presidential hopefuls. For some younger students, it was their first time stepping behind the voting machine’s striped curtain.

A number of CSC students participated in this election, mainly a result of the various projects around campus aimed at increasing political awareness around campus.

Although there were several statewide elections, students gathered to find out who was goin to lead the country for the next four years.

For Republican candidate Mitt Romney’s supporters, the night was off to a great start. Romney secured the majority of the Midwest and southern electoral votes, almost instantly gaining a great electoral lead over President Barack Obama.

Obama’s supporters seemed beat down at first. That changed when it was deemed the President had won Ohio, a major swing state in the election.

“It was funny watching it on Fox, I thought media was supposed to be unbiased,” laughed Tom Ferruolo.

After the Ohio declaration, students took to social media. Posts on Facebook supporting or damning the president were on many newsfeeds and Twitter was swarmed with #Obama and #Romney hashtags.

Vermont generally leans liberal, which could explain why many CSC students were excited about the results.

“I feel good about it. I think it was a good turnout,” said junior Juliana Combs.

Student Amy Chesley agreed. As a women’s and gender studies minor, as well as a mother of three, Chesley knew how important this election was to women like herself.

“I think it was great. It was even and really close,” she said. “I love Obama, but I would have liked to see Romney too.”

Student Dean Sherman would have liked to see a different outcome, but understands why the country favored the President.

“I wasn’t as disappointed as others. I’m not in total favor of Mitt Romney and his views,” he said. “But I’m not content with the outcome.”