I have closely followed current events and politics for much of my life, probably as an extension of my knack for history. In early high school, I got involved in a club chapter of an organization called Junior State of America, a national political debate organizations mostly ran by students. Every Thursday afternoon we met to eat snacks, debate some serious and/or wacky things (2016-2020 were interesting times), and go to semester overnight conferences in Tucson and Phoenix every year. In my second and fourth year, I assisted in the planning and logistics at the hotel of debate and large meeting rooms, and managing a chapter of 20 students to an overnight event.
In my junior year I joined the Youth Advisory Council of the local Tucson Metropolitan Education Commission. We did outreach and local events concerning students understanding their education and career options after school, including hosting a Teen Town Hall at a local high school where students and teachers got a chance to speak with local leaders and experts about issues pressing public education system. Their discussions were written down and used to make a final report on the community’s largest concerns.
We also traveled to the capital once a year to meet with Arizona lawmakers to discuss issues faced by public schools. These trips were interesting, as half the time we were preparing for what we were going to talk about or meeting with lawmakers who were friendly with our cause of supporting public education. Then there was the meetings, where we often met with politicians who were not super interested in supporting our already struggling system. They usually had obviously practiced scripts that didn’t make sense.
Attending and managing the school club trips and helping host the YAC events or going to the capitol proved to be stressful times. However, I gained a lot of experience working in high stress environments, working in team environments and on in event planning, and most importantly wearing suits and jackets.