WHS students lobby legislators in Juneau

Three Wrangell High School (WHS) juniors recently returned from a five-day trip to the State Capitol to participate in the legislative session. Joel Cole, Lorenzo Silva and Blaine Wilson traveled to Juneau Feb. 8-15 and lobbied for House and Senate bills that would ultimately grant their school more funding.

Silva,17, made the trip to Juneau as a sophomore, and after having “so much fun,” he said he wanted to serve as a student lobbyist again this year.

One would think Silva has an interest in politics.

Not so.

“Oh, no,” he responds to such an accusation. “Politics just makes my head hurt.”

Silva does, however, enjoy speaking with his lawmakers about the different issues facing him, his school and his community.

The trip didn’t seem to inspire Wilson to become a politician, either. The 16-year old said he found lobbying interesting, but can’t imagine making a career out of being a senator or congressman.

Cole, 17, on the other hand, said the trip to Juneau sparked an interest in politics he didn’t realize he had. He’s not sure if he will study political science in college but may consider it.

School District Administrative Assistant Kimberly Powell, Wrangell School Board member Rinda Howell and Superintendent Rich Rhodes accompanied the students on the trip to Juneau. At the beginning of the trip, Cole, Silva and Wilson spent two days at workshops with other student lobbyists from around the state, where they were taught how the legislative session operates.

“There we learned the basics of how a bill is passed, about our legal system and such,” Silva said.

On Monday, Feb. 13, Cole, Silva and Wilson addressed the House Education Committee and talked about Wrangell High School and thanked committee members for allocating money to public schools throughout the years that has allowed for technological advances at WHS.

The students also lobbied for two specific bills: House Bill 242 and Senate Bill 171. The senate bill would increase base student allocation used for public school funding. And, if passed, HB 242 would provide more funding to schools to use towards digital learning tools, such as interactive white boards, laptops and tablets.

The House bill is sponsored by Wrangell’s representative, Peggy Wilson, who Silva said is “100-percent on our side” when it comes to the issues the students at WHS are concerned with. Silva said he has gotten to know Wilson well because of his time spent as a student lobbyist.

“If I wouldn’t have done this, I probably wouldn’t have known who she was or where she stood in most problems,” he said.

Silva encourages his fellow students to take part in the legislative session. Silva, Cole and Wilson agreed they want to travel to Juneau again for next year’s legislative session. Silva said he would like to take a younger student along with them next year in order to pass on his knowledge and experience about being a student lobbyist.

“Its really fun, and I think more kids should do this,” Silva said, adding the experience in Juneau gives he and the other students the chance to meet legislators as well as talk about their school.

Between the three of them, Cole, Silva and Wilson met about 28 legislators or members of their staff. They also had a short, roughly five-minute meeting with Gov. Sean Parnell, which is “really hard to do,” said Silva.

“The five minutes gave us recognition — personal recognition and school recognition,” he said.

The three students agreed the experience in Juneau taught them that the state’s lawmakers are “real people,” “aren’t different from us,” and are easy to talk to.

“All of them really do want what is best for us,” Silva said. “But along with thinking what is best for Wrangell, they’re also thinking what is best for the entire state.”

“And a lot of them have different ideas for what is best,” added Wilson.

Silva also said the trip helped them develop their public-speaking skills.

“Going in front of the House Education Committee was kind of stressful at first,” he said, “Then you just realize they’re just people listening to us.”