Submitted photo Lordstown students Peyton Ferguson, left, and Kileigh Rice are shown working at Sen. Bernie Sanders’ headquarters in Des Moines, Iowa.

LORDSTOWN — Fifteen Lordstown High School students received real-world experience in the election process, spending three days at the Iowa caucus this week.

They left, however, without knowing who received the most votes in the Democratic race for president.

The students in 10th to 12th grades, who are members of the high school’s Political History Club, left last Friday for the Iowa caucus and returned Tuesday night along with their teacher / adviser Courtney Gibson and Superintendent Terry Armstrong.

Gibson said the Lordstown students were among the youngest participants at the caucus process.

Jackie Wilk, a sophomore, said she spent time campaigning for Bernie Sanders, making calls to Iowans to get their support for the candidate and to have them come to the caucus.

“I learned a lot on this trip about the election process, I have been teaching my parents about the whole process,” Wilk said.

She said Tuesday night she and the others were waiting for the results at the hotel.

“It was very suspenseful waiting and waiting,” she said, noting when they left they had 66 percent of the results.

As of late Wednesday, Pete Buttigieg and Sanders remained in the lead as the Iowa Democratic Party has been releasing results during the past two days.

The students said they got to see first-hand democracy in action — and at this caucus, some inaction — as well as getting to meet the candidates.

While the results of the Iowa caucus were not immediately known because of technical glitches, the students were able to utilize their time by learning the ropes and learning why this caucus is historically an indicator for success in the presidential election.

McKenna Lago, a junior, said it was great to be part of the event.

“We can all say we were there at this big Iowa caucus disaster. It is cool we will be part of the history of this taking place,” Lago said.

She said she believes President Donald Trump and Republicans will use that situation as leverage that the Democrats can’t run a caucus.

“It does reflect poorly on the Democrats what happened.” Lago said.

Vincent Spano, a junior who campaigned for Joe Biden, said what happened will make the history books.

Spano will be among five of the students including his twin sister, Ava Spano, who will be 18 by the November election and can vote for president.

Hannah Boyle, a senior who campaigned for Sanders, said caucus organizers may have had the right idea to try to make it easier for everyone voting but could have ended up having to do the whole caucus over again.

She said she is concerned with candidates’ views on climate change, which is a key issue for her.

Emily Johnson, a senior, said she made calls for Biden and people told her they were not supporting him.

Johnson said a female heckler was removed from a speaking event with Biden after she asked questions of the candidate about fossil fuel money and was booed by the large crowd.

While the students campaigned for either Biden or Sanders they did get to meet Sen. Elizabeth Warren, Buttigieg, Sen. Amy Klobuchar, Andrew Yang and others.

“It was a really great experience seeing everything we learned in government class come to life. We were there to experience the rallies and see the candidates talk,” junior Lexie Drewek said.

Gibson said she took a group to the 2016 Iowa caucus and said this year’s caucus had more people in attendance because there were more candidates.

The students said in addition to the candidates they also met their spouses and family members. They also met members of Congress, including U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan, D-Howland, who was in Iowa campaigning for Biden.

Wilk said she was able to meet and speak to actress Susan Sarandon, who was helping Sanders. She said many of the group sat behind Warren and met her family and her dog.

The students gave Buttigieg and others special Lordstown shirts.