BLOG: Day 2 in Washington D.C.

Great Hearts freshman, Brighton Greathouse from Glendale Prep, received an all-expenses paid trip to Washington D.C. She will be blogging her experience for Great Hearts.

BLOG ENTRY 2: Congressional City and National League of Cities Conference

Today was the first day of the Congressional City and National League of Cities Conference. Councilmen, mayors and youth delegates all joined to attend the general opening session. The two main speakers were Mayor Mark Stodola and Bob Schieffer.  The two speakers touched upon the future of work, the strengths and unique things that make different cities successful. They both desired to bring the community together to solve issues which is why this conference is significant and impactful because you are able to understand different perspectives and how they approach their issues.

After that we attended the youth workshop focusing how to make our voices heard. They talked about the influence of youth through our personal experience and able to work together to accomplish goals. Part of this workshop was an elevator speech. We were required to write about issues that concern us as well as quickly share our qualifications and why it should interest the person we are addressing. Advocacy was touched upon also and how by contributing to our cities and government, we are being a youth leader. This workshop helped me develop a great set of skills to effectively introduce my idea and myself in a timely manner to a person. I can use those skills during my work with Youth Advisory Board and even to increase communication skills.

The second part of today was Networking with the Youth with different cities as we talked about the structure and function of their boards and different political view and opinions that we have an interest in. I loved being able to hear about different people’s concerns in their cities as well as just meeting youth from a variety of areas. Then after that with our board we listened to a speech on increasing youth involvement which then lead into a workshop where we discussed and created a plan to create something to improve our city. I found this part very effective because it allowed us to create a clear plan and discuss the things in our cities that could use improvement. Overall today consisted of a focus on youth and how we can attain our desired goals through leadership and advocacy. I was able to enjoy today while furthering me communication skills and meet councilmen and youth.

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