A couple of weeks ago, AP Biology students worked in groups to choose a cell organelle and run a campaign for it in the annual mock election. The goal of this assignment is to allow students to understand the function of each organelle further.

Students treated the assignment as a real campaign to elect a political figure. Groups made catchy slogans and advocated for their candidate through social media in an effort to get as many votes as possible. 

The groups lobbied their teachers and faculty members to vote for their organelle. To receive extra credit for faculty endorsements, students had to record a video of their teacher saying they would support that specific organelle and send it to Mr. Tran, the AP Bio teacher.  

Mr. Tran informed students, especially the competitive ones, that there would be a separate winner for each class period (periods 2 and 5). 

Some groups didn’t take the project too seriously, whereas others went all out to secure their win. For instance,  the Golgi Apparatus representatives in the second period went above and beyond by making pancakes for their class to enjoy during their speech. Similarly, students representing the mitochondria handed out 3-D printed mitochondria models on the day of their speech. Bringing goodies to class wasn’t even on the list of things to do for extra credit points!

Now, you may be wondering which groups won for each class period… 

In period 2, the Golgi apparatus group won. It was a close election; they won by just two votes!

As for period 5, it was even closer. It was a tie between the Rough ER and the Cytoskeleton group. Although it was a tie, Mr. Tran made it known that the Cytoskeleton group would’ve won by one vote had he counted late ballots. 

Does that make them the official winners? Who knows…