HSLP 2009: Day 10, July 20

High School Leaders Program Class of 2009
Day 10— Monday, July 20
Reported by: John DeVilbiss, Radford

    Once again I woke up this morning in the tiny cramped dorm room and to the now common call of this random rooster. I see an ironic connection to Henry Thoreau's Walden. "I do not propose to write an ode to dejection, but to brag as lustily as chanticleer in the morning, standing on his roost, if only to wake my neighbors up." I feel that is an appropriate quote to describe my experience. I have only been here one week, a mere drop in the pond compared to Thoreau's two-year learning experience but what I have learned is comparable.
     The wilderness of politics is massive. Every day I am woken up with a new fact, statistic, and tool for life.  The day starts with a simple breakfast and we set off to explore at about 9. We stay seated most of the day until 5, but when you are busy thinking about political ethics, the day goes by quickly— especially when you are processing some of the startling problems of the real world. We stay pretty clean in our professional attire (except at lunch). On the contrary, the debates require you to get pretty dirty; not in the sense of disrespect, but down to the nitty gritty.
     The Sorensen Institute really enforces and makes you embrace the fact that it is unacceptable to be disrespectful when arguing an issue. The issues are separate of the person. That’s what politics is about, the issues. Another important point they teach is that you may not win every argument, but it is important to see both sides, after all that can help you win. Finally, just losing one battle doesn’t mean you lost the war, there is whole area of issues to fight for and against.
     This past week has been filled with so much more than just prime principals but how to make these principals aware to the public. There has been good food, good times and good people. I have been to summer camps and programs every summer for most of my life, and I have never had an experience like this. I wish I could have done this every summer, and I’m pretty set on trying the College Leaders Program here. Some of our speakers were graduates of this one-of-a-kind school. Each one is an exemplary and impeccable member of their community and actually making a difference. Everyone should have this experience because there is nowhere else can you learn the politics of politics except at the Sorensen Institute.
 
— John DeVilbiss, Radford