Politicians are used to being questioned by journalists on election day, but this year several faced a surprise — an army of Bermudian students with a range of questions.

In order to cover all 36 constituencies, The Royal Gazette enlisted a cadre of students to help, sending them out to the polling stations tasked with speaking to the candidates.

Among those who joined our news team in the field were Morgan Beckles, Imani Phillips, Eryn Bhola, Pier Simons, Ava Mayer, Calvina Steede, Justin Bascome Dickinson, Z’Ajae Lee, Maleia Howard and Jaelyn Doyle, each of whom found the fruits of their labour in Wednesday’s paper.

Ms Mayer, who is set to attend university this year to study journalism, said that while it was a long night, the experience was rewarding.

“It gave us all a lot of exposure to what it’s actually like during election season for a journalist,” she said. “People were really surprised to see that The Royal Gazette had young people out there, getting involved. It was really cool telling people about that. “I took a politics class in school, so I knew what was going on, but it was nice to get down to the personal level. I wasn’t in my own constituency so I didn’t really have a good idea about what was going on in Constituency 29. It was a new experience for me, being able to talk one-on-one with candidates who were not my own.”

Ms Doyle said: “I felt like I had to work extra hard to make people know that I was serious about what I was doing.

“At first some of the politicians were asking if I was just there for a project. I had to say no, anything they told me was going in the paper.”

Ms Beckles meanwhile said the candidates seemed to be pleasantly surprised to see young Bermudians getting involved, even if they were not old enough to vote.

“One of the challenges was just trying to get information,” she said. “The officials were saying they were not going to announce the count, so I had to go around asking about it and making sure.

“Also, getting the quotes afterward. A lot of the candidates were rushing to get home or rushing to go wherever. Some of them didn’t want to stay because they lost.

“Nowadays it feels like not a lot of people get experience in what careers are actually like. We learn about it in school but really experiencing it is a whole different story.”

For Ms Simons, the event was an opportunity to speak to the candidates about what they wanted to do for the island’s young people.

“I asked a lot of young questions for the youth,” she said. “I asked what they were going to do for the youth if they get elected, so I put those in the paper so people know.”

“It was interesting, because I have never really done politics before, so it had a different feel for me.”

Meanwhile Ms Phillips said she was thrilled to see her work appear in print for the public to see, calling it proof of what young Bermudians can achieve.

“I think it shows that just because we are not adults, the youth section is still important,” she said.

“From what they said to us, I wasn’t sure the OBA candidate really cared when she was talking to me, but it shows when it came out in the paper that our voices will be heard.”

And Ms Howard commented that journalism remains a healthy — and important — field for young people.

“People talk about it being a dying industry, but someone always has to deliver the news,” she said.