HSLP 2010: Day 7, Friday, July 16

High School Leaders Program Class of 2010
Day 7-Friday, July 16
Recorded by: Jacob Kaufman-Waldron, Charlottesville

My annoying doorbell alarm started my day today at 8:10-a few hours earlier than I would prefer but something I’m getting used to-and I began getting ready for class. My suite was, as always, among the last to get downstairs for the arduous walk to class. The route has gotten shorter though, through a few perfected shortcuts I think we have shaved as much time as possible.

We began the fast paced day right away with the presentation on the Dillon rule and a debate on whether the Dillon rule is fair for localities. As with all of our debates their was vigorous participation on either side and Mark was forced to cut off discussion before things became too heated and longwinded. We finished the morning with proposals to fix transportation, taxation, and education in the commonwealth. This of course only fostered more debate and discussion, but it spread to some new areas and intriguing concepts. Our minds were stocked full of questions for our speaker.

Sean Holihan, President of the Virginia Young Democrats, took us into the lunch break with an interactive discussion of general assembly and congressional elections and the trials of “carrying” a bill. He depicted the sprint which is the general assembly session and the tendency of the body to follow the path of least resistance simply because of how little time they have. He also touched on the difficulty of finding young leaders to rally support around for local chapters of the young democrats. Overall he was an interesting and enthusiastic speaker, he was admittedly liberal, but at the same time practical and descriptive in all his views. A funny part of the talk was when John found out he and Sean knew the same guy and John exclaimed, “That’s my Bro.”

Starving, Max, Locher, Ethan, Mac, John, Jeff, and I took our Mellow Mushroom Pizza and ate lunch in a tree outside the classroom to reconnect with nature and our childhood. Unfortunately the lunch also made me a little tired and after Connie Jorgensen’s breakdown of how to approach making a bill a law I needed a five minute power nap.

Rejuvenated, I enjoyed a look at the money that flows without restriction into Virginia’s political campaigns. We went to VPAP- the website tracking Virginia campaign contributions- and awed at the 26 million Bob McDonnell received and the 21 dollars donated to a campaign in the form of beverages. From the funding we moved to an interesting look at the ads that money bought in the 2009 gubernatorial campaign including Terry McAuliffe’s on boat production. Then it was our turn and we came up with catchy slogans and messages for the upcoming congressional races.

After reflecting on what we had learned so far Mark left us with a metaphor from the godfather of Virginia politics, Thomas Jefferson. Jefferson received chalices from his mentor that had been heavily used, so Jefferson melted them down into 8 cups, 4 with his initials and 4 with his mentor’s initials. Our democracy is strong and rests on principles we must respect, but it must be constantly updated, upgraded, and shared.

The night was fun, Max, Jeff, and I used the free trolley to get to the downtown mall where we walked, talked, and ate doughnuts from Max’s uncle’s stand. However, upon return we were greeted with a few trees worth of papers on the American and Virginian political structures due tomorrow. We are now officially half way done, I hope the second half will bring more fun and some baked goods, we have not received them and it is beginning to put a cramp in our time here, they will soon be moved into the need category of the shopping list.

High School Leaders Program Class of 2010
Day 7-Friday, July 16
Recorded by: Nicole Patterson, Newport News

As I wake up and roll over to one side, unsurprisingly, the first I see is my roommate Catherine knocked out with one hand over her face (because apparently she can only sleep with something on her face). Next, I see young Aquarius swimming frantically about in his bowl (details to come in later blog written by my roommate, Catherine). As we both hurried out of bed for another day in the Sorensen program, we couldn’t help but to turn on “The Mumble Song” by La Yanta and yell, “Friday, Friday!” until the song ceased.

Our first speaker today was Sean Holihan, the President of the Virginia Young Democrats. While he immediately admitted to being “pretty freaking liberal” he was surprisingly down to earth and honest about his views stating, “Obviously I don’t agree…with every little thing,” and admitting that the Democrats could lose their majority in the House during the next election. His political priorities lie in helping as many Democrats get elected as possible, working on campaigns, and focusing on policies. I completely agreed with his statement about Virginia saying that our state is a follower, not a trendsetter, when it comes to change in policies and structure. His engaging personality kept us on our toes and constantly asking questions; when he could only take one more question his suggestion was, “You guys can thumb wrestle for it.” Even John, who was too sick to barely stand, had the energy to shout out, “That dude and I are bros!” after Sean Holihan mentioned the name of a mutual friend. His insight on the world of policy and politics was refreshing.

We broke for lunch where we sat in our usual spot outside on the picnic tables, while the boys occupied their favorite new spot – the tree. Immediately after lunch, Connie Jorgensen joined us to teach us more about the legislative process. While she knows we have all learned the basics about how a bill becomes a law, her goal was to show us that it is much more complicated than simply following the steps. Using an example of employing a law about a 5 cent cigarette tax, she showed us that before a bill is even written, it is essential to understand who the supporters and opponents of the bill will be. It was helpful hearing from a woman that has seen first-hand how difficult the passing of a bill can really be.

After Connie Jorgensen spoke, Catherine and I began to fantasize about blithely frolicking through the town of Charlottesville without a care in the world. But first, it was essential for us to pack in a little more information during our Informed Citizen class about how to run an efficacious campaign. We studied the styles of both Creigh Deeds and Bob McDonnell’s through their advertisements, pointing out what each candidate’s themes were – Deeds’s being mainly education, and McDonnell’s of course being the economy and job creation.

After an informative day in class, the clan meandered back to Bice House to cool off and enjoy a wonderful soup and salad dinner. Catherine, myself, and our friend Cari wandered around grounds for an hour, walking up and down Chancellor Street enjoying the gorgeous sorority houses. We soon met up with others to watch them play a competitive game of Ultimate Frisbee. Catherine and I separated from the group to visit our “Special Spot” on grounds (no need to be jealous, there is not much special about it other than the fact that only Catherine and I go there). We wrapped up another day at UVa with a cupcake and a movie on my laptop. And with this, I will leave you all with the wise words from Connie Jorgensen, “Go forth and be nice.”