The 2016 Presidential Election was a whirlwind of emotions. From the very beginning when there were 17 Republican candidates vying for the nomination, it became very clear that this was going to be an election like no other.

I remember when I woke up to the news that Donald Trump announced he was running for President of the United States. Like many others, I thought it was a joke.

“That’s really funny,” I told my dad. “He’s going to be one of the first people to go. There’s no way he’s gonna make it.”

Boy, was I wrong. Were so many of us wrong. Before we all knew it, Mr. Donald J. Trump was everywhere. I would walk into the dining hall and his face would be plastered onto the TV screen. CNN seemed to talk about him constantly. People were talking about him constantly. “Did you hear what Trump said? Did you hear what Trump did?” I felt like I was hearing those words every day.

The primaries began. To say I was in great shock when I realized that Trump was winning would be an understatement. I didn’t think he would make it past the first debate; now here he was leading the Republican candidates in the polls.

Slowly, the Republicans began to withdraw from the race, one by one. It became very apparent that Trump would be the nominee for the Republican Party. He got even more air time. The debates, if you can even call them that, began. Trump dodged just about every question he was asked. He threw tantrums that reminded me of a 5-year-old who was told he couldn’t get a cookie or a new video game. I did not hear a single genuine idea from him about how he would help shape up our country into something great. Supposedly, it will be great. “It’s going to be great, we’re going to make America great again!” That’s what he says all the time, but he doesn’t back it up. How, Mr. Trump, will you make America great again? America isn’t perfect by any means, but it’s still pretty darn great right now. Whenever Hillary said something that Trump did not agree with, which was just about every time she opened her mouth, his response was “Wrong! Wrong! Wrong!” Is she wrong, Mr. Trump? Do you care to back up your reasoning? Oh, it’s going to be great. OK, got it.

National news stations kept a close eye on the polls. They told us that Hillary had the election. There was no way Trump would win, especially after the last debate. She was up in the polls. It would stay that way.

On Tuesday evening I sat with some friends in the dining hall, and we watched the results beginning to poll in. Every single one of us was shocked to see that Trump was ahead. What had happened? What caused the great surge in his numbers?

As soon as I woke up in the morning, I googled the election to find out who had won. Sure enough, Trump had prevailed.

I can’t speak for other parts of the country. I live in the bubble that is Ithaca, New York, a very liberal city where there are thousands of students my age and people who share my viewpoints on a lot of things. In other parts of the country, there could have been mass celebrations, the sun could have been shining and people could have been smiling and in the best moods.

Here at Ithaca, it was cold, wet, rainy and dark all day long. The mood was incredibly somber, and I heard of many professors who cancelled class, students who did not attend class and people who had cried over the election results. Here at Ithaca, we were very sad and confused. The results of this election became more than Democratic and Republican issues. Most of the people on campus were scared of both their human rights and the human rights of others being taken away. Trump had exposed the hidden racism, sexism and homophobia that is very clearly still in America. He exposed how divided our country truly is. The campus could not understand how a woman who has spent years in politics and would have done everything in power to make our country the best it could be, could be defeated by a man who does not look out for everyone, who says things that are hateful, rude and flat out disgusting. A man who thinks rape is OK and that the country needs to be rid of all Muslims. A man with no political experience who spent years as a reality TV star.

I reached out to some people on what their thoughts were about the outcome of the 2016 Presidential Election:

“I thought we were genuinely making huge steps in terms of equality and inclusion in this country, but to see over half our citizens openly agree with and support a racist, sexist, misogynist, etc. makes me fear for what kind of mindset our country has. Imagine being queer and thinking you are loved and supported and welcomed by the country only to find out a few months later that, oops, half of the country does not support you. Imagine the courage it took to come out and be brave and feel accepted by your peers and have that completely taken away. Maybe Trump won’t take away LGBTQ rights, but the fact is he has made it so half this country has voiced their discomfort, cannot be taken back. I get so frustrated when people say they support Trump because “he tells it like it is." Where were they when he has been caught openly lying? How is that telling it like it is? If he can grab a female by the pussy, and that’s telling it like it is, do you want to grab me by the pussy, too? Where is his respect, what are his legitimate platforms that he has stood by since day one and not altered and where is his political experience? He has economic and business experience, yes, but people also fail to realize he’s been bankrupt himself eight times! We are a country where freedom reigns, but if half our population can’t walk the street without being afraid, where is this freedom America was built on? How will Trump fix this?”

- Jen Francisco

“I am disgusted. I am disgusted that our country has elected a man who has based his entire campaign on hateful, incendiary rhetoric that alienates anyone who is not a white male. I am disgusted that our youth will look up to a man who has literally bullied his way to the top by being xenophobic, Islamophobic, homophobic, misogynistic, by mocking disabled people and rating women on their looks, and think that this is acceptable behavior. I am appalled that our youth now believes that you can sexually assault women and face zero repercussions. How our country thinks that handling an immense amount of power to someone who has said that fame confers the ability to sexually assault women is incomprehensible. In addition, this monster will choose our next Supreme Court justices, and thus bringing up the possibility of overturning a woman’s right to her own body and the LGBT community’s right to marry. And last of all, it is abhorrent that our country’s citizens have deemed this behavior acceptable, setting a dangerous precedent for what the country will stand for.”

-Jeremy Silverman

“If there is one thing I have to say about this election it's about Trump as President. But now it is up to the young people of this country to not sit back and allow him to ruin our planet and our rights. It's time to stand up and fight and not make anything about the next four years easy for him. If there is a time for our generation to grow a backbone, it's now. This is our world, and it's time we take it back. We can't sit down and mope and post on Facebook. It is time for action.”

- Anneke Walsh

“I am sad for my fellow women, LGBTQIA, POC friends. I am here for you, to fight to be an ally. In this country, we are allowed to have different views and opinions. And that is fine. It's how the country works. However, if you are unhappy with the results, fight back but do it right. Speak up, listen, write and act accordingly. Do it in good graces. The power is ours and we can make the change! These results are frustrating. It's hard to see a man who shares views different than my own in power. Especially when his views are not rooted in fact. But I hope it empowers people to fight back.”

- Grace Trepasso

“I think there are a lot of things to be worried about. I can't speak for POC, LGBTQ or other minorities who will be impacted, but as a woman I find it just as worrisome. Listening to the comments Trump has made about women, I've found unmistakable similarities between what he has said and what I've been subject to on multiple occasions. There's definitely the possibility that Trump's comments and attitudes towards women will change with his new presidency. However, that doesn't change the past. Those comments are still there and he still made them. He is now a president that can be seen as encouraging sexual assault and crude language towards women. The men who have objectified me on my walk home from work or a party are now looking up to a president who encourages these behaviors as OK. Like I said, I can't speak for the fears and worries of others who may be negatively impacted by this presidency, I can only speak for myself. But I stand with them. I hope that as a nation we don't give up on each other; I hope we are able to promote what we believe to be right and find some sort of solidarity within each other. It's important that we voice the morals and values that we believe to be right and keep them alive in such a difficult, confusing time for our country.”

- Madison Barlow

“I'm scared to live in my own country. I'm terrified of how this great country will look when I wake up in six months, a year, four years. I'm confused at why anyone would want that racist, sexist controlling pig to be the leader and face of this great nation. I hope everyone is prepared to get in a time machine and go back about 50 years to where women don't have the right to chose what happens to their body, where people can't chose who they love and who they can marry, where millions of families are shipped out for just trying to better their life, where a whole group of people will be persecuted because of the religion they practice. I've never I'm my life been more ashamed and terrified to live in this country, how could we let this happen. I'm so scared. So, so scared.”

- Maia Rumsey

“We need to abolish the Electoral College. This is the second time in 16 years that the person who won the popular vote has lost the election. We need term limits on the Senate and Congress and the presidency should be one six year term.”

- William Rickli

“I just don't understand how people can vote for a man who won't even find time to prepare for a debate to run the country.”

- Dora Csogor

After every election, there are people who are unhappy with who won. It is not the same this time around, though. There has never been so much fear in the air before, or so much uncertainty. Trump doesn’t seem to have a real plan. He doesn’t seem to be looking out for the entire nation as a whole.

I hope he can erase our fears and doubts. I hope he is a great president. Our country needs a great leader to make strides. Right now it doesn’t seem too convincing, however, Trump isn’t the sole person who influences our nation. We influence each other every day. Speak up for what’s right, use your voice, don’t let this man or anyone else think that it is OK to be a hateful bully. John F. Kennedy famously said, “Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country.” We all have a part in making this country great. Make sure you do your's.