ROCHESTER, N.Y. (WROC) -- Breaking down every cog turns in the machine that is the US government—that’s how this AP Gov class at Rochester Prep High School prepared its students for the presidential election. "It’s important that we clash about our different candidates or if we have the same candidate, because we get to see how other people feel—a feeling that we may not know or and aspect that we might not understand," says senior student, Naron Dunbar. Probably one of the most civil clashing of opinions as the class on Wednesday listened carefully and each person spoke patiently as they reviewed Tuesday’s results. It’s been two weeks during class reviewing the candidates, their policies, and proposals on the ballots. Now that the 18 year old students have officially voted for the first time ever, they say they’re glad they had their class notes to rely on. "Actually voting, it gives you a lot of knowledge of, like, not making a blind decision. You actually are informed in a vote that’s making a huge impact, whether you see it or not," fellow senior, Alexis Howard, explains to News 8's Mikhaela Singleton. "Being an African-American and an African-American of Caribbean decent, I do feel like we're misrepresented a lot of the time, so it felt good to be able to say how I want to be perceived for once," adds Naron. "It’s very fun to see how empowered they are, and I really feel it will encourage them to encourage others that are younger peers to then also go vote. So it’s kind of a cascading effect that I really hope happens," says their teacher, Stephen Gallagher. They’ll now move on to other topics to talk about and subjects to study, but the teens say they now understand their civic duty and how to find the information they need the next time around. "Pay attention to the news, because that gives you what you need to know for real, not just like Instagram. I feel like Instagram gives you, like, people's opinion on something, but not actually what’s being said for real in the news. So it’s like a biased opinion," explains Onecia Whitter, another class senior.