2026 HSLP: Day 9

High School Leaders Program: Class of 2026
Day 8: Sunday, July 19
Reported by: Cari Brown and Huff Mullen

Today was our second full Sunday in Sorenson HSLP. We got to wake up a little later

than usual and after breakfast we returned to Echols with several hours of free time to

decompress and work on policy. These hours, as well as the time that was provided later in the

day, allowed us to work on our policy projects more than we had been able to any other day. This

was desperately needed as the Senate Simulation the previous day had consumed much of our

focus Friday and Saturday.

After a couple hours of work, we went to O-Hill for lunch. Unbeknownst to us while we

were there Alisha and Amari were making a cake to celebrate Nathaniel‘s birthday. When we

came back, they brought the cake out as we sang happy birthday and Nathaniel blew out the

candles.

Later around two, we watched the World Cup finale match between Spain and Argentina,

where Spain won in overtime. Afterwards, the group split up to go to either Roots or Chipotle for

dinner because we had missed the time in which O-Hill was open. Then we returned to the dorms

to eat our dinner and return to work on our policy projects. We divided by group and went into

individual rooms to ensure we finished the work at hand. This is because there were four

separate policy project objectives due today: a Press Release, a Letter to the Editor of the

Richmond Times Dispatch, advocacy email, and the amended Preliminary Questions. We spent

most of the evening working on that as the Youth Program Managers went around to each group

giving help, quotes, and advice, all of which were very helpful.