By Madison Jandreau
Caribou Middle School
My experience at the State House on March 5, 2015 was a great privilege. Having the honor to be chosen for this day in Augusta was so amazing for me because it introduced me to many new things in the world of politics. Being able to listen to speakers and representatives of our State was a life changing event. I have a new perspective the different jobs in the political field and how important it is that there are amazing women working for our State. As much as this day was about teaching girls about political controversies, the women there were trying to increase each girl’s confidence and to tell us that we can do great things for our community, state, or even country.
The bill that we focused on all day was “To Create a State-run Virtual Academy Providing Maine Students with Access to Online Learning through Their Existing School District.”
In the morning, we did a mock public hearing in which some of the girls acted as the legislators and others as the public, voicing their views on the bill. Listening to girls speak about their different thoughts concerning the same bill was a cool experience. Later we acted out a press conference. Here, with people acting as reporters, we learned how to communicate with legislators effectively on a bill. In another session two successful women in politics talked to our group about ways to be more involved, challenges they faced, and the importance of women politicians. The girls were then given a challenging scavenger hunt around the State House. In this activity, not only did you have to work in a group of people that you didn’t know, you also had to be comfortable with asking some of Maine’s politicians to help you with difficult questions. Finally, all of the girls attending the Girls’ Day watched real Maine leaders debate and vote on the bill given to us. We were able to not only watch and listen to legislators, we were given the opportunity to sit in the House Chamber, in the same seats as our legislators do today.
Right before going back home, we listened to two amazing women that had written us truly inspiring letters. Senator Susan Collins and Representative Chellie Pingree took their time to be able to talk to us for a short period of time.
That concludes my overall experience of my day. But I learned many things and different things that I can do as a kid to be involved in Maine’s political activity.
