Huntington Duo Set for Albany Conference
Huntington High School sophomore Katie Duval and junior Katherine Gerdes are set to travel to the state capital for this year's Students Inside Albany conference sponsored by the League of Women Voters of New York State.
The Huntington duo was selected to attend the April 14-17 conference along with other top New York students after a stringent application process that included an essay and personal reference checks.
"I am extremely excited about the conference," Ms. Gerdes said. "I don't really have much to do to prepare for it because it's more of a learning experience than anything else. The purpose of the conference is to bring information about how the New York Legislature functions and in what ways everyday people can get involved in policy making through their local government back to your local community and share this information, which is what I plan to do. I feel it will be an enlightening experience for me and I'm hoping that I can share my experience with others to perhaps get them more interested in politics and making their voices heard."
Ms. Gerdes has participated in Huntington's student government, Key club, chamber orchestra, a capella singing group and the drama club. She is a member of the National Honor Society, Tri-M honor society, math honor society and English honor society.
"I feel that over the past couple of decades people are becoming more and more disgusted with politics and the way things are running, but few attempt to take a stand and fight for what they believe in," Mr. Gerdes said. "I do not plan on going into a career in politics. I actually plan on going into a career in theatre, but the way I look at it is that America is a democracy and if I wish to be involved in the political process I shouldn't have to have a degree from college to do so! Now I'm not saying that I think elected officials shouldn't have degrees, but as a democracy, it should be the people that run the government, ordinary citizens like you and I. Therefore, by attending this conference I hope to see how bills and ideas and whatnot, travel from a local to state level and thus how the people can use their local government to make changes to the government."
The League of Woman Voters' bills the conference is an "intensive" experience "designed to immerse students in the process by which public policy is proposed, enacted and changed in New York State and educate them as to how they can influence and affect this process."
Travel, lodging, conference and meal expenses are covered by the League of Women Voters. Ms. Gerdes and Ms. Duval will meet with state government leaders and learn about how policy is shaped and how laws are enacted. They will watch the Assembly and Senate in action and shadow sitting legislators.
"We are excited to have two students participating in this prestigious conference," said Joseph Leavy, Huntington's chairman of humanities. "We look forward to them sharing their experiences with their classmates."