Michigan 4-H Program Creates a Capitol Experience

How many of us really know how our government works?  Not many, I’d guess.

Well, as of yesterday, 98 Michigan teens and dozens of adult chaperones got educated. They learned how Michigan laws are made, what lobbyists really do, what happens inside the Michigan Supreme Court—and whether or not their legislators drink orange juice or coffee (or both) at 7:30 a.m.  OK, maybe that last part isn’t really critical to the inner workings of Michigan government, but it’s still pretty cool for a 16-year-old to be able to have breakfast with his or her state legislators.

Youth talk with their legislator during the legislative breakfast.

This is Michigan 4-H Capitol Experience, an annual conference/ workshop that brings high school students from across the state to Lansing for four days.  At the legislative breakfast, I watch these youth get past their shyness and really talk to a senator or a representative about the things they care about.  They want to know why their school doesn’t get all the money it needs to buy books.  What’s being done to keep gas prices down so they have enough money to drive to the mall?  With the economy so bad, will they be able to find a summer job this year?  How will they afford to go to college?

This year, they also want to know if this event—and the rest of the 4-H program—will even be around next year, if the State’s proposed 50 percent budget cut to MSU Extension (4-H’s parent program) actually takes place. 

Capitol Experience participants learn and make new friends.

These are smart kids—some of the cream of the 4-H crop.  To them, 4-H isn’t really about doing craft or animal projects or winning a ribbon at the county fair.  To them, 4-H is an opportunity to learn what it really means to be an engaged citizen.  It’s their window to seeing government in action, their seat at the table of true civic involvement, and their doorway to career options they might otherwise never even consider.

I watch the legislators too, and they appear to be enjoying themselves.  This is a break for them, after all.  They are surrounded by well-dressed young people (the boys wear ties! the girls wear skirts!) who are looking to them for answers and who aren’t yet old enough to be cynics.  These kids are genuine, and the senators and representatives are genuinely listening and responding to them.  I think these teens are reminding our legislators why they wanted to go into public service in the first place.  

How many programs can you say that about, hmm?