My First Steps at the Capitol

Advocating for My Friends with Inside Out at the Capitol
–Shanice, age 19–

My experience at Student Lobby Day with Inside Out and ONE-Colorado was amazing. I`ve never been to the legislature so it was a great learning experience for me. We talked about Civil Unions and health care and also about fair tuition for students, and a lot more.

We spoke with our Colorado State Representatives and Senators, including Pete Lee, Janik Joshi and Owen Hill. Senator Morse represents our area, but he’s also the Majority Leader and was in meetings. We talked with his Chief of Staff instead. Pete Lee came out to see us and talked for a while. Let me just say he is amazing person! He took time to talk to us about his beliefs. I really appreciated that he took the time and explained his views. I would just like to say thank you Representative Pete Lee.

Because we didn’t get a chance to speak with Sen. John Morse, I looked him up on Google. I read about him and found out he and I have some of the same views. Like John Morse said: “Can you imagine how great a state we would have if we went back to achieving our visions? Can you imagine how many companies would want to move to Colorado to be part of our community? Can you imagine the number of jobs that would create and sustain?” I thought that would be great.

I have Pete Lee as a Representative and John Morse as a Senator. They are both great people. I would like to say thanks to Inside Out for making this experience happen for me. I believe we should do this more so that more young people get involved. We don’t always get to see what’s going on in the world first hand, but this is a way we can do that.