PRESQUE ISLE, Maine — Typically U.S. Sen. Angus King (I-Maine) is asked questions by the media, but last Wednesday afternoon he fielded questions from seventh-graders at Presque Isle Middle School.
As part of his ongoing “Capitol Class with Angus” series, King video-conferenced from Washington, D.C. with the students in Kevin Sipe’s social studies class for about a half hour.
“We’ve been talking about various issues in class and they hear each others’ opinions, but now they got to hear the opinion of someone who’s actually making decisions [on these issues],” said Sipe. “I thought it was very effective for the kids.”
Previously the students brainstormed issues King would likely be involved in, and then they chose a topic of interest.
“Things like the use of drones, gay marriage, legalization of marijuana, the Affordable Care Act, No Child Left Behind, income equality, the civil war in the Ukraine, and how he balances work and family,” said Sipe, “and then they researched the topic, created a poster, and presented to the class.
“Last Friday their assignment was to come up with two questions for Sen. King based on what we’ve talked about, and then we started vetting their questions. Some were too broad, so we fine-tuned them a bit,” he said. “Then we spent the last two days debating these issues, and last night they reformulated their questions. When they were done they all pretty much had at least two good questions, and I selected various students to ask one of their questions to the senator.”
Sipe said his students felt privileged to be a part of King’s day.
“The afternoon was a unique and valuable learning opportunity that demonstrated the importance Sen. King places on education and allowed the students to see the important role that current events play in the real world,” he said.
The seventh-graders enjoyed the interactive discussion.
“Talking to one of the 100 most powerful people in the United States was a pleasure,” said Anna Robinson. “Even though we didn’t all get to talk to him directly, we all got to see him and hear him talk to us. It was really cool.”
“We usually talk about current events every Thursday, so this was very timely,” said Jaren Winger. “We’ve had guest speakers before, but to be able to talk with a U.S. senator was pretty exciting. I’ll remember this for a long time. If any other school gets this opportunity they should definitely take it. It’s pretty awesome.”
Sipe said while he prepped his students for the video chat, the experience would not have been possible had it not been for Sharon Campbell of King’s Presque Isle office, and Ben Nason, who works at PIMS in the technology office.
“Sharon contacted me at the beginning of the school year and wanted to know if I would be interested in doing something like this, and I jumped at the opportunity,” said Sipe. “Sharon put Ben in touch with King’s staff in Washington and he’s been working via email and Skype to set it all up for us. They deserve a lot of credit.”
Over the course of his term in Congress, King hopes to connect with as many Maine schools as possible in order to share his experiences representing the state in the U.S. Senate and to answer their questions about today’s most pressing issues.
“I was delighted to connect with students at Presque Isle Middle School,” he said. “I was very impressed by their level of engagement on important issues such as Maine’s economy, health care, education and world affairs.”
