Former President Donald Trump’s victory in last week’s presidential election has elicited fear, uncertainty and excitement from some University of Maryland students.

Trump defeated Vice President Kamala Harris and will become the first United States president to serve non-consecutive terms in more than a century. The outcome came as a surprise to many students at this university.

“To see that so much of the country didn’t come out to vote and so much of the country voted for Trump, it was a little shocking,” said Jacqueline Hull, a sophomore environmental science and policy major.

Reproductive rights, immigration and the economy were the most important issues for Hull during the election, she said. The moment Trump won the presidency was “really scary,” Hull said.

But other students, including sophomore animal science major Abigail Pamplona, were “expecting the worst.”

“I’m upset, but I’m not devastated,” Pamplona said. “I feel like we still can’t really give up.”

Pamplona, who is from Delaware, said she has been trying to focus her attention on the “huge” accomplishment of Sarah McBride winning her election to represent Delaware in the U.S. House of Representatives, which makes her the first openly transgender person to serve in Congress.

Pamplona has also had to navigate political differences with her parents, she said, whose support for Trump feels like “another slap in the face.”

For Ethan Vinodh, the president of this university’s College Republicans chapter, election night was a time of anticipation and joy.

Vinodh was at the Maryland Republican Party’s watch party, he said. The junior cell biology and genetics major said he expected Trump to win the race when he won the state of Georgia and held a strong lead in Pennsylvania.

[Donald Trump elected next United States president]

Vinodh felt the outcome signaled a “rejection” of President Joe Biden’s administration’s policies.

“People want peace and prosperity back,” he said. “They saw peace on the world stage with the Trump administration, they saw peace domestically until the COVID crisis, and I think they want that strong sense of security back.”

Moving forward, Vinodh is excited about potential shifts in foreign policy and border security, issues he feels personally connected to as an immigrant, he said.

Trump has vowed to pursue the “largest deportation operation in American history,” according to his campaign website. The Associated Press reported that Trump would reinstate policies from his first term that “severely” limit and ban immigrants from certain majority-Muslim countries.

The president-elect has also talked about deploying the National Guard, which can be activated by a governor’s orders, in his deportation operation, according to the Associated Press.

Senior government and politics major Maxx Margob said he followed the election closely, monitoring polls, election results and campaign updates on social media. Margob’s primary concerns in this election were the economy and democracy, he said.

“I just don’t think [Trump] has the respect for democratic institutions,” he said. “I’m not very optimistic.”

Trump repeatedly denied the results of the 2020 election and spread false claims of voter fraud, according to the Associated Press. He was later impeached for his role in the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection and storming of the Capitol Building.

[UMD College Republicans holds watch party for election results]

Margob, who voted for Harris, said he is also concerned about potential changes in foreign policy over the next four years, particularly around U.S. support for Ukraine.

Trump has previously criticized U.S. funding in support of Ukraine after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the Associated Press reported in September. He has promised to settle the war between the two countries on his first day as president through negotiations with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, according to the Associated Press.

Lexie Jones, a freshman theater major, said she is nervous for Trump’s second presidency. Jones said they are most worried about their transgender friends and family members and the impact a second Trump term could have on them.

But being close to Washington, D.C., and attending this university has offered some comfort, she said.

“I feel like I’ll be able to better stay informed and learn how to actually help spread awareness,” they said.

In the meantime, Jones is focused on staying grounded by talking to her friends and limiting time online.

Vinodh hopes for more civility between parties when Trump returns to the White House.

“We’re Americans at the end of the day,” he said. “We need to treat each other as such.”