John I Burton student Brittney R. was chosen to represent our school in a trip
to Richmond on Sunday, February 16,2014. The trip was sponsored by Delegate Terry
Kilgore’s LEAP Program. Kilgore represents the 1st district of
Virginia which includes Lee, Scott, and Western Wise counties. There are eight schools in District 1 and
each school nominated one student to represent their school on the LEAP trip.
Activities and Events
First they met with Bill Howell and Bill Carrico, the speaker
of the House of Delegates and a Virginia state senator. Howell invited the students into his office
and discussed his position as the speaker. He says that his main job is to
assign the 100 delegates to their respective committees and appoint the
committee chairmen. He also said that
after crossover (which just happened, and consists of the House getting the
Senate’s bills and vice-versa), his most important job is to assign the Senate
bills to the appropriate committees so that they can advance in the legal
process. Carrico was scheduled to present a bill to the House of Delegates, so
they got to watch him present the bill and defend it.
The students then went to the Senator’s office. Senator Carrico spoke with them about transportation
needs and healthcare difficulties in Lee, Wise and Scott counties. He also discussed the current budget deadlock
and what he thinks should be done to resolve the budget in Virginia.
After the students met the legislators, they toured Virginia’s Capitol building and learned many interesting facts about the capitol of Virginia. They learned about the the Capitol ? and that Thomas Jefferson designed the building. He designed it as a marble structure, and when he found out that it had been built from bricks, he was not pleased. The building was covered in stucco and painted white, and that is how it appears today. There are also pine trees in the pillars that stand at the front of the Capitol building.
After their tour, the students sat in on a session of the
House of Delegates. Brittney says: “It was interesting to watch the legislative process and hear the speeches of
the morning hour. The House is not
nearly as formal as you would expect, and some may consider the actions of some
of the delegates disrespectful as many were on their cell phones or eating
during the proceedings.”
They then went to the Attorney General Mark
Herring’s office. Brittney stated that: “He was
very cordial and spoke with us in a meeting room. He discussed with us his duties as the
Attorney General and his career as a lawyer.
He stated that he is often described as the lawyer for the Commonwealth,
but he believes that he is better described as a lawyer for the public in
Virginia.”
From there they then moved on to the Lieutenant Governor Ralph
Northam’s office where he spoke with students at length about healthcare and mental
health in the state. Brittney said he explained
his life in the military prior to his career as a pediatrician and how he
entered into politics. He is still a
pediatrician in Norfolk, even though he is the Lieutenant Governor of
Virginia. He spoke about the expansion
of care for mentally ill patients in the Commonwealth and how the legislature
has helped the health of the people of Virginia by regulating tobacco. He also stated that as healthcare is reformed
further in the state, the need for medical professionals will increase as
intended.
The following morning, they toured the Governor’s mansion
and met briefly with the Governor of Virginia, Terry McAuliffe. She said that he was a respectful and
kind man, and even his security guards spoke kindly to us.
Brittney stated: ‘The trip was entertaining and
educational. Seeing our legislature in
action was something I never thought I would witness with my own two eyes. Being in Richmond with Delegate Kilgore and
his staff opened my eyes to the nature of politics in our state, and I was able
to interact with some people who could make some big changes in the state in
the future.”