Students Colleen Shannon ‘17 and Becca Firstbrook ‘18 travelled to Washington with President Shirley Mullen to attend the Student Leadership Conference, sponsored by the National Association of Evangelicals.
The conference, which took place at the end of January, was centered on “faithful advocacy”. While there, they had the opportunity to witness the inner workings of the political system and voice their own policy concerns.
Shannon shared her impression of the work she observed. She stated, “Despite the tumultuous political atmosphere, Capitol Hill was still running very smoothly. Everyone had the mindset that we’re not just this moment. We are a country and we have a lot of people who depend on these systems.”
She shared that a highlight of the trip was the opportunity to speak with representatives in person and practice advocating. She said,“I was able to talk to [Representative Tom Reed, NY-R] about the Do Something table, and in what ways we could be more effective in that advocacy work.” She continued, “The things we do here really do have an effect on Capitol Hill.”
“This is the first time that we have taken students and they really represented Houghton in a wonderful way,” Mullen explained, and recalled the issues the students presented. She continued, “It was very interesting because Colleen had already been in touch with Tom Reed’s office in Corning through her involvement with the Do Something table.”
She also admired their discussion of global perspective and international opportunities. She said, “The concerns that [Colleen and Becca] brought did a great job of representing a global Christian Higher education. As much as it is important that the president speaks, I think it has a greater impact when the student speaks.” She elaborated, “When you have students speaking very enthusiastically about what they learned and what they appreciated… I think it has real credibility.”
Firstbrook found it did a lot “to enrich what it looked like to be an American citizen and live in America and have that kind of authority in my government.” She continued, “ I didn’t realize the whole potential of what that meant until I found out about the executive order and it popped into my head that ‘Oh, I could have advocated against that. I have that authority to bring this issue that’s really important to me and bring it to the greater puzzle that is politics’.”
Shannon noticed the same, and stated she is looking forward now to “encouraging others that you can make a difference, even though you are just one you are one person you are a person that matters, especially when you are talking about something that matters to you.”
As she reflected on the impact of her participation in the conference, Firstbrook noted in whatever work she finds as an international cultures major, “It’s equally important to work in the policy realm” as it is to have a “boots on the ground” approach. She explained, “I think policy is something important for people to think about, no matter their major. I think if you have the opportunity to learn more about the system to take it.”