HSLP 2010: Day 10, Monday, July 19

High School Leaders Program Class of 2010
Day 10-Monday, July 19
Recorded by: Allison Reid, Herndon

"HEY!” I jumped as my alarm clock played the Talking Heads’ “And She Was.” Like any other Monday, the switch from weekend to weekdays was especially challenging. A long night of studying Dr. Bragaw’s assigned readings and writing policy papers did not add to the Monday morning excitement. After giving myself a motivational pep talk, I left the comfort of my bed, showered, dressed, and entered the kitchen for breakfast when…

Knock knock knock. It was Maggie. An emergency policy group meeting was to be held in her room. Today was our mock interviews! Grudgingly, I grabbed a bagel, cream cheese, and some juice, and listened as Logan explained our last minute funding change. After fifteen minutes of preparation, it was time to head down to Thorton Hall for our second class with Dr. Bragaw.

First, we discussed the definition of public goods, and how the varying interpretations of the term affect public policy. When discussing the success of various goals, a student brought up an interesting point: that the most popular ideas appeal to the fear of lack of benefits rather than appeals to helping the greater good.
After our captivating discussion, Mr. Gibson mock-interviewed the policy groups to give us new approaches to our ideas and to simulate media questioning. After our discussions with Mr. Gibson, I believe that many groups have discovered flaws or more effective approaches to their policies.

After a hardy lunch of scrumptious sandwiches, we listened to two distinguished speakers: Brendan Fitzgerald, a writer and editor of the local C-Ville weekly newspaper, and Dave Norris, the current mayor of Charlottesville. Brendan Fitzgerald provided us with an interesting viewpoint on the status of local papers, that they exist to inform locals of issues concerning them. A surprising claim he made was that small print newspapers like the C-Ville are in fact not losing readers to online media sources because they are invaluable to the community. Dave Norris surprised the students with his unique campaign tactics: rather than knock on doors as the traditional campaigner would, he had people open their houses for him to discuss his platform.

After the two speakers, Dr. Bragaw led us in a simulation of Debora Stone’s ideas of equity, modeled by how to accurately cut a pan of brownies equally between the student body. Now, this may seem like a simple idea- just cut the pieces by the number of students in the room, right? But consider who values the brownies more, which groups have higher rank and so on, and you have full-on philosophical discussion.

Next, we ventured out to the scorching hot Rotunda to take our group and individual photographs. Believe me, it’s hard to look photogenic while wearing a stifling suit in the hot Charlottesville sun. After the pictures, we returned to Bice House to eat dinner, absorb the large volume of readings for Mr. Bragaw’s class tomorrow, and finish our Rough Drafts for our policy research papers. It is going to be another long night.

High School Leaders Program Class of 2010
Day 10-Monday, July 19
Recorded by: Holly Johnson, Danville

Today started with me turning over and seeing that the clock read 7:33. After pulling a late night so I could finish my reading for Dr. Bragaw's class and prepare for the mock interviews on our policy proposal that we were told about the night before, wake up time had arrived way too early. As I stretched and let my feet hit the cold floor, I realized that today was going to be one long day. I quickly recollected that our policy interview with Bob “Bobbledore” Gibson was this morning. To calm my ever growing nerves, I turned on my laptop and listened to Ray LaMontagne's, “Jolene.” I soon began getting dressed and running through the list of statistics in my head.

When we arrived to class, Dr. Bragaw quickly had us engrossed in conversation on the difference of political theory and political economy, stressing the importance of being well versed in both languages so that we can be good policy entrepreneurs. Eleven came too quickly and our policy interviews began. While I did not actually end up having an interview, the questions that Bob proposed to the members of my policy group were thought-provoking, challenging, and became a large conversation piece at lunch.

After lunch Brendan Fitzgerald, from the C-ville Weekly, came and talked with us about working with a local newspaper and how it transformed from an critical newspaper to a reporting newspaper. As I leafed through the latest issue of the paper, I was extremely excited to see an advertisement for my favorite band, The Avett Brothers, concert here in Charlottesville this fall. Next came Dave Norris, the mayor of Charlottesville, and once again the topic turned to the Dillon Rule and how it affects local government.

Dr. Bragaw soon came back to class, to reveal to us a pan of brownies that he made, to demonstrate and help us engage in discussion of what was equality. After much discussion and debate on what equality was and the different meanings to us, Dr. Bragaw left us with the task of cutting and consuming the brownies. After discussion on what would be the most equal way of doing so, I enjoyed a nice square of brownie. After wrapping up class, we headed off to the Rotunda for our class picture!

When we headed out to the Rotunda, I thought that I was going to melt. The heat was a little much, but there was plenty of laughs that made it much more bearable. After a hike back to Bice, which consisted of good political conversation as usual, I dove into the new reading for Dr. Bragaw's class tomorrow. Only to stop for dinner and a tour of the campus with some friends. I am now sitting in the basement of Bice, hanging out with friends, working on finishing my reading for class tomorrow, working on last minute policy things, and ingesting way more sugar than I should.