HSLP 2009: Day 4, July 14

High School Leaders Program Class of 2009
Day  4— Tuesday, July  14
Reported by: Aya Ibrahim of Annandale High School, Annandale

     The morning started off rocky as my roommate and I decided to stay in bed for just two minutes after our alarm clock went off. Two minutes soon turned into an hour and we woke up shocked to discover we had fallen back asleep. Luckily we had planned for such an event and were able to get dressed and get downstairs on time.  We walked to class and started with speaker Mary Loose DeViney. We had a lengthy debate about Mrs. DeViney’s attempt to amend the Curse and Abuse statute to specifically include police officers and emergency personnel. The issue was near and dear to her heart as her brother-in-law was a police officer.
     After she wrapped up we had a brief discussion about the UVA college credit we receive for doing the program and how to request a transcript. That information would come in handy when we started applying to colleges ourselves. We then jumped to reading group presentations. The presentations broke down the main points of the reading and posed questions for our discussion. We took a break for lunch and came back revitalized and ready for more learning.
     Bob Gibson followed and shared with us his wealth of knowledge of Virginia and federal politics. The media, his time at UVA, and even the benefits of having women allowed in to the university were just some of the many topics we covered. Every few minutes someone would interrupt with a question but Mr. Gibson, a respected journalist for 30 years, seemed to enjoy it. He had an amazing grasp of the current problems we faced and posed possible solutions for all them.
     They say first impressions are everything and with our next speaker, April Auger, that old saying was affirmed. Despite technical difficulties with her power point we were able to get started when Joe saved the day. We looked at ridiculous pictures, some eerily similar to the profile pictures of some of our friends, and talked about the effect of their image. After more discussion and some fashion tips (Black, navy and dark gray project power and authority) we waited for our next speaker.
     Rob Bell was scheduled to speak to us but unfortunately he was stuck in court. Mr. Gibson stepped up and entertained our questions while we waited. Mr. Bell never came, but we still had another speaker. Waldo Jaquith, web designer and blogger extraordinaire, was super savvy with computers but also very informed. He had us laughing through his entire presentation while jumping from website to website. He explained these sites were transparency websites. One of those websites was www.vpap.org,  which you can look up any donation made to any candidate by any person in Virginia. We learned that one of Terry McAuliffe’ s biggest donors was none other than the producer of the Power Rangers himself, Haim Saben. He finished up his presentation by taking us to his website and after some questions he said his goodbyes.  Exhausted and feeling a million times smarter than when we first walked in, we left class and walked to Bice Hall.

— Aya Ibrahim, Annandale