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I am Jessica Pedersen, one of the lucky citizens of Orange
to be enabled to attend the 2015 Citizenship Washington Focus thanks to the
Virginia 4-H
Foundation Board. I would like to
take a moment to share my gratitude. I
am so appreciative that it was made possible for me to go and partake in
everything that CWF is. I was granted a
wonderful leadership experience on top of the opportunity to make friends and
memories.
During the week I spent at CWF at the 4-H Youth Center in
Chevy Chase, Maryland, I had the chance to tour all over the area alongside
other 4-H youth from all over the country.
We toured monuments and memorials such as the Korean Memorial, the MLK
Memorial, the Jefferson Monument, the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, the Iwo Jima
Memorial and the Pentagon Memorial. My
delegation’s chaperone was actually able to get us a tour of the Pentagon. I really enjoyed the Lincoln Memorial; we
went there for a night view of the area, and reached the steps leading up to
Lincoln just as the sun was setting.
We spent one of the days touring the Capitol building, where
most of the delegations had the opportunity to meet with their state’s
representatives. This was extremely
interesting for me. I am very keen on
the thought that I could be so closely involved with preservation of the United
States Constitution. I think I would
enjoy caucusing and debating bills.
I actually had the opportunity to sample that on a much
smaller scale. All of the delegates at
CWF were divided up into different committees or groups. Lucky me, I was a part of the Government
Committee, where we were then divided up again to discuss different national
issues. Every day, we would meet and
learn about the process of composing bills.
By the end of the week, we had discussed, debated, critiqued and
composed a bill of our own on Unmanned Aerial Systems, a.k.a. drones. We had to present the newly formed bill to
the entirety of the CWF, where it would be debated, yet again. The rest of the CWF delegates could either
vote for or against the passage of the bill.
My group’s bill was the only, out of four topics, to be passed.
I am so glad that I was able to get a taste of what that
occupation would be like. As I enter
into college this fall, positive experiences such as the ones granted to me
through the Citizenship Washington Focus serve as wonderful, eye-opening
tools. I know those experiences will
guide me as I complete my college degree and enter into the workforce.
