I am going to describe 4-H Capitol Experience in one word. Wow. That really sums it all up. I choose to participate in the 4-H Capitol Experience because I wanted to learn more about government, and that was what I was expecting to get out of this trip, but really I got much, much, more than that.My dad and I drove nearly 8 and ½ hours to Lansing on March 20 th, 2009.

During this three day experience, I really discovered methods of expressing my ideas in a sensible manner, learned more about what my ideals in government, learned the basic process of creating a bill and advocating for one, and learned how many pieces, each one important, make up this powerful body we call government. There were nearly 100 4-H and non-4-H high school students from all different counties around MI. I was the first to represent Marquette and the 34th district for 4 years!

My very favorite experience at 4-H Capitol experience was one of those “step on the line if it applies to you” activities. A big pad of paper was placed on either side of a long meeting room. Teen and adult leaders would read them off to the crowd of Capitol Days participants and we would decide which stand we agreed with more and would stand along the length of the room according to how much we agreed. An example is “How much do you think government should be involved in; the government does to much intervention, the government does not intervene enough.”

If you agreed entirely with one side of the statement, you would stand on the side of the room with that statement. If you couldn’t make up your mind and felt equally about both statements, you could stand in the middle, or adjustment in position that you though represented your position.

The reason the exercise was so interesting was that in a group of 100 kids, there was never an issue or argument in which everyone stood on the same side of the room. In fact, more than not, there were nearly equal amounts of kids on each far side, with a huge majority in the middle. There were no right or wrong answers to these questions, just a point of opinion. Participants who volunteered to share – coming from both sides and the middle - would tell the group why the felt this way and why it meant so much to them.

I can’t express how inspirational it was to hear teens discussing health care, taxes, environmental, property, social injustice, and education issues creatively and cooperatively while together coming up with new solutions.

It was a great feeling to share, be heard, and to listen to others who had different opinions but equally as important. The adults present at the activity shared with us that listening to the ideas of this teen group was an amazing experience and gave them a lot of hope for the times ahead.

My crew, the Environment and Energy committee, wrote a bill proposing to create a 10 cent deposit on all plastic juice and water bottles. Right now, plastic water bottles can be recycled, but you will not receive deposit money for them, and in the reality of things very few water bottles and plastic juices get recycled and are left in streets, roadways, and end up in landfills. Our bill proposed a 10 cent deposit would be paid by the customer, any uncollected deposits would be sent to the government and associations such as the DNRE.

In the house, the oposing discussions from some teens brought up BPA, a synthetic chemical that interferes with the body’s natural hormonal messaging system and is found in most water bottles. My group never thought about that while discussing our bill, but it was great to hear teens so eduacated on such issues.

There was a bit of time after and sometimes in between meetings for recreational activities and their always was time in the evenings.

The participants of 4-H Capitol Experience had the opportunity to tour the capitol, see the governor's office, meet their legislators and tour their offices, attend a senate hearing, create their own "bills", meet with lobbyists, practice handshaking, public speaking, meeting and addressing a public figure, discussed public issues amongst themselves, and learned about all of the different parts of government and how to get involved in the state government. 

Any 4-Her or chaperone will benefit a lot from this experience and walk away knowing how our system works and actually feel good knowing how you can make a change. This has to be the best way to learn about government and the economy and main issues passing through our state.

You should go next year!