2025 HSLP: Day 4
High School Leaders Program Class of 2025
Day 4: Tuesday, July 15th
Reported By: Charvi Deorah (Maggie L. Walker Governor's School, Richmond VA) and Angie Sun (McLean High School, McClean, VA)
After a fulfilling breakfast at O-Hill, students convened at Shannon, rejuvenated in time for the introduction of their policy projects. Sarah Campbell, our program director, walked us through the intricacies of tackling a specific issue in Virginia, the categories of our presentations being education, public safety, public health, environment, and affordable housing.
Our first guest speaker of the day was Malena Llanos, the president of the Virginia Young Democrats. We learned of her path to politics and her experience working as a legislative aid for the Office of Senator Jeremy McPike. She encouraged us to get involved in politics by staying informed and actively participating in volunteer work.
Immediately following Llanos’ presentation was that of Ali Mislowsky, the communications director of the Virginia Public Access Project. In her speech, we learned of all the tools that VPAP’s website provides, including but not limited to graphs of voter turnout, data on donors for various elected officials, and pages with local news compilations. It is an entirely free resource and it makes education on regional politics incredibly accessible.
Following lunch break, students resumed lessons with Ms. Heubeck and engaged in discussion regarding American values. We found that most Americans share similar priorities, regardless of political affiliation, and among these values are family, happiness, and hard-work.
Ms. Huebeck then introduced a new initiative known as the Mile Marker Project. We had Jennifer Loux, the Highway Marker Program Manager for the Department of Historical Restoration speak to us about the process of creating a highway historical marker. We have been tasked with creating our own historical markers and will have a museum walkthrough on July 24.
To wrap up the day, Ms. Huebeck delved into the rule of law by analyzing the six constitutions of Virginia. We traced the evolution of our state constitution from 1776 to 1970.
We are excited for the field trip to the dairy farm tomorrow!