John, a senior at Skyline High School in Sammamish
On Monday, LEV took a whole busload of students from around the state down to our state’s capital for a crash course in education advocacy.
Aside from free t-shirts and pizza (a good thing on any day), we also had the opportunity to get together with other students from their legislative districts and brainstorm some message points to deliver to our legislators. We even took part in the gargantuan Rally for Our Future on the steps of the Capitol building, along with 4,000 other like-minded students and citizens, and heard the personal stories of people from all over the state who demonstrated the need for new revenue and the ramifications of cutting funding for education and human services.
Maria and Jesus, who attend Health Sciences and Human Services High School in White Center, rallied to protect funding for kids, schools and human services.
The day culminated in an EPIC scavenger hunt around the capitol, where the student-advocates delivered their notes to their legislators, busted out dance moves on the floor of the rotunda in the Legislative Building, and had the opportunity to sit in on the debates on the House and Senate floors.
Parents brought their kids to Olympia to remind legislators who are impacted by state budget cuts.
It was pretty incredible to be able to see some of the inner cogs and gears of our government (supposedly) working hard on…something. It was also a pretty venue for students to express their opinions on the issues.
Jesus Robles, a junior at Health Sciences and Human Services High School in White Center, was one of a handful of students who stated their beef directly in a video testimony: “My favorite part was being interviewed over the issues in my school and sending the letters to the representatives and senators,” he says.
All in all, LEV gave over 40 students the opportunity to take a direct role in their government and gain some experience in working directly with their representatives.
We met with Sen. Margarita Prentice's legislative aide, Beau Perschbacher, to talk about how budget cuts could impact their schools.
“It was really exciting to express our concerns to the people who are making the decisions,” says Bill Dow, a freshman at the University of Washington, who had the opportunity to sit down with an aide from his state Senator’s office. He adds, “And I want to get marble installed in my dorm room.” (Marble is a pretty constant feature at the capitol-and yes, that includes the bathrooms.)
Experiences like this demonstrate the ease with which concerned students and constituents can see first-hand how their state is being governed, and convey their concerns to their representatives. It was a first time for me, and I was amazed at how we could simply walk into the offices of our representatives and senators and deliver them a note with our views, or pull them out of the chamber to talk with them directly. I mean, how cool is that?!
The answer, of course, is very, very cool.
We left Olympia with a better understanding of how our state is governed and how easy it is to convey our concerns to our elected officials.
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Youth Summit:
