Ladies and gentlemen, the president of the second grade at Seymour-Jackson Elementary School is … Kenzi Henkle.

On Friday afternoon, the four second-grade classes gathered at a shelter house behind the school. Kenzi and the other three candidates, Priya Singh, Ella Brock and Dalton Mitchell, stood in front of everyone while waiting for the results of the mock election to be announced.

Students built the tension by thumping their hands on the picnic tables to sound like a drumroll.

After it was revealed that Kenzi had the most electoral votes, she received a handshake from Kristi Burbrink, one of the second-grade teachers, and a Hershey’s chocolate bar, and her classmates gave her high-fives.

The other three candidates also received a candy bar, while all second-graders enjoyed chocolate chip cookies.

“I felt excited from the beginning to the end,” Kenzi said of the two-week lesson about how an election works.

The lesson started with second-graders reading the book “Grace for President” by Kelly DiPucchio. Burbrink said they typically read the book near Presidents Day in February, but it was decided to do it this time of year because of the presidential election.

Read the full story in Tuesday’s Tribune and online at tribtown.com.