By Ceana Cuello ’16

It takes a certain type of person to run for president. Most of the time people seek someone who is honest, educated and respectable to take leadership of our country. While looking for these traits in candidates, many find the negative ones and discover this person may be running for the wrong reasons.

While some motivations are completely genuine and based on the desire to actually make a difference, others are trying to play the fame game— doing absolutely anything to get their faces seen and known to become more popular with the public.

Whether they win the election or not, being famous or influential comes along with the simply running. Being in the public eye is what catches the public’s attention and increases the popularity of these type of candidates.

“If they know what they are doing and seem genuine I’d vote for them,” freshman Brett Epstein said. “I wouldn’t want someone who only cares about themselves as a president.”

In this year’s election, the same question keeps arising. Are these candidates fit to run our country or are they just aiming to increase their personal status?

“There are certain things candidates do that could question the way we judge their intentions as a president,” junior Sara Wells said. “It’s hard for me to tell which ones are doing the right things.”

With Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton as the frontrunners in this election, their qualification to hold the position is in question. In comparison to candidates like Bernie Sanders and John Kasich, Clinton and Trump recieve much more attention.

Before Ben Carson was out of the running for president, he drew in large amounts of attention by selling books and appearing on FOX News, according to CNBC, making him appear fame-hungry.  These other candidates are competing with already well known public figures, so they seem to be trying to get something out of this whole experience.

Trump has been rumored to be doing this to only become wealthier and better his businesses, and Clinton to be doing it to gain even more power than she already has. They give this image throughout their candidacy because of who their name, but not necessarily from what they’ve done.

“I think candidates like Trump truly believe they could make a change, but I don’t know how to feel about him because he takes things to an extreme,” senior Brandon Heinz said.

These speculations have yet to be confirmed as valid reasonings, but are still up for question. It’s truly a contentious situation as to whether or not these candidates are considering taking the honor of being president for the good of the people. No one wants a president that is just trying to make a quick pass into eminence.

“I don’t know if candidates run for the right reason,” teacher Dr. Bruffy said.”