MFS’s Mock Primary Election is over, but the student body remains politically engaged——some of them, albeit, in their own special way.

Junior Charles Kropiewnicki (’17), who managed the campaign for Dragon Ding’s MPE-run as John Kasich, recently discovered the “Captains For Kasich” initiative on the candidate’s website. The program, installed by Kasich’s campaign, allows supporters to earn “Kasich Points” by doing certain volunteer activities, such as making phone calls, writing endoresements, or joining the campagin’s rapid response team. These Kasich Points can then be redeemed for campaign merchandise from the candidate’s online store.

While earning Kasich Points the old-fashioned way takes a great deal of time and effort, Kropiewnicki discovered a loophole that recently led him to top the national leaderboard as the Top Individual Captain for Kasich; five points can be earned by sending friends links to the Kasich-website. While John Kasich’s campaign managers might have assumed only ‘friends’ would get these emails, they did not account for the savvy of MFS students.

“I basically just smash my fingers on the keyboard and add ‘@gmail.com'” Kropiewnicki says. “Most of the email addresses must not actually exist, but I still get points for sending them.”

Using this email-smash method, which he discovered two months ago, Kropiewnicki quickly accrued more than 66,000 Kasich Points, an amount that would have been all-but impossible to obtain so quickly by any other method—the website’s managers, recognizing this, reset the leaderboard, putting him back down to square one. Since then, Charles has been using the same method in a more patient manner, and as of February 29 had successfully gained 14,299 Kasich Points, for a time sitting him squarely on top of the campaign’s volunteer leaderboard.

Not to be outdone, Kropiewnicki’s friend Brad Geyer (’17) caught wind of Charles’s scheme and started playing the Kasich-game himself. On February 29, Geyer soared past Kropiewnicki with 20,220 points, pushing Charles to second and giving Brad a commanding 5,921 point lead. Kropiewnicki fully intends to get back to first pace, but regardless, the two MFS juniors look to share the top two spots between them for the foreseeable future.

So far, the boys have redeemed their hard-earned Kasich points for a glut of campaign-themed merchandise; between them they have received more than twenty t-shirts and ten fleece jackets bearing the John Kasich logo, with more on the way. For comparison, the price of t-shirts on John Kasich’s website is $29, while fleece jackets cost $78——making their combined haul worth well over $1000 dollars by this reporter’s estimate.

While some may doubt the propriety of obtaining redeemable points in such a backwards manner, Geyer and Kropiewnicki seem to be doing so in a kind spirit, participating in the political process while having poking fun at its excesses and having some laughs along the way. As the pair is quick to point out, after confirming with MFS History Teacher Judy Van Tijn, since the website has no terms-of-service agreement, or even any guidelines, there are no rules to break in the competition.

Further, all clever trickery aside, Kropiewnicki and Geyer are genuine Kasich supporters——they have both done some legitimate volunteer work through the Captains for Kasich program, and continue to serve as walking advertisements for his campaign through their lifetime’s supply of Kasich-wear. “[He] will balance the budget,” proclaims Geyer in a personal post on Kasich’s website allocated to the top five Captains.

“I believe that he is the most qualified candidate for the Presidency,” explains Kropiewnicki.

Still, while Kasich may be qualified, perhaps he should give the campaign staff in charge of his website a stern talking to. “I like him because he gives me free stuff,” jokes Geyer with a deadpan smirk. “Simple as that.”

“Anyone want a fleece?” Kropiewnicki asks, laughing. “Seriously, I’ve got too many of these to ever wear. Medium or large?”

Anyone wishing to join the Captains For Kasich movement, or simply to donate directly to his campaign, can find the webpage here.