Thursday, May 24, 2007
Visit to Augusta
Today the Honors English 11 students and I went to Augusta, early in the morning. We found our room, the Legislative Council Chamber, without too much trouble, and, being simple, rural folk, we were amazed by the elevators which allow you to make choices such as Floor 2.5 and 3.5! We were, in fact, so mesmerized by this oddity, that Micah almost fell out of the elevator into a very plush office on 2.5. We were graciously welcomed by Rep. Josh Tardy of Newport (House Minority Leader) and the rest of the caucus, and then we took the picture with Rep. Tardy in his office that you see above. At his invitation, we watched the session (45th Legislative Day) from the gallery, and, in particular, marvelled at the vocal prowess of the House Chair.
It was pretty thrilling to be recognized by the entire House. I suspect we all wondered whether cool people would wave back, and I bet that none of us remember whether we did or not. Our representatives know their business-- we were awed as they worked their way through the calendar, answering phones, working on their computers, signalling eachother, speaking, and voting on the business of this state.
Following that experience, we went to the Museum, dodging excited little children, enjoying the incredible artifacts, and we ate lunch all together, the entire time, in the sun (far, far away from the designated smoking area). It was 81 degrees at one point today.
Our next stop was the Taxation Public Hearing. There was a very interesting bill on the floor from Opportunity Maine, and we enjoyed the testimony very much.
One highlight of the day was that when we visited the Governor's office, Rose (his assistant), asked which one of us was the teacher and helped us set up the picture you see immediately above this post. Sadly, Governor Baldacci was in Bangor, but we filled in as best we could in his absence, signing a number of emergency laws into immediate effect. It was the least we could do for this very busy man. Kidding. It was very, very enjoyable to hear Rose explain the artifacts lying around the room, including a bat with a personal note to the governor from Big Papi.
Special thanks to Mr. Jason Tardy, our AD, for going out on a number of limbs with coaches and bus drivers to help us arrange the trip on such short notice. Warm thanks to Rep. Josh Tardy for his gracious hosting and Ms. Heather Priest for giving so generously of her time, arranging such an interesting day, making sure we had copies of the paperwork, and checking in on us throughout.
In all seriousness we are both honored and appreciative of how many people went out of their way to make this a lovely and educational experience for us. We missed the rest of the class, who had to miss this trip due to Envirothon and a recent Latin trip, but perhaps we can go again next year. The girls want to try paging--it looked like fun!
It was pretty thrilling to be recognized by the entire House. I suspect we all wondered whether cool people would wave back, and I bet that none of us remember whether we did or not. Our representatives know their business-- we were awed as they worked their way through the calendar, answering phones, working on their computers, signalling eachother, speaking, and voting on the business of this state.Following that experience, we went to the Museum, dodging excited little children, enjoying the incredible artifacts, and we ate lunch all together, the entire time, in the sun (far, far away from the designated smoking area). It was 81 degrees at one point today.
Our next stop was the Taxation Public Hearing. There was a very interesting bill on the floor from Opportunity Maine, and we enjoyed the testimony very much.
One highlight of the day was that when we visited the Governor's office, Rose (his assistant), asked which one of us was the teacher and helped us set up the picture you see immediately above this post. Sadly, Governor Baldacci was in Bangor, but we filled in as best we could in his absence, signing a number of emergency laws into immediate effect. It was the least we could do for this very busy man. Kidding. It was very, very enjoyable to hear Rose explain the artifacts lying around the room, including a bat with a personal note to the governor from Big Papi.
Special thanks to Mr. Jason Tardy, our AD, for going out on a number of limbs with coaches and bus drivers to help us arrange the trip on such short notice. Warm thanks to Rep. Josh Tardy for his gracious hosting and Ms. Heather Priest for giving so generously of her time, arranging such an interesting day, making sure we had copies of the paperwork, and checking in on us throughout.
In all seriousness we are both honored and appreciative of how many people went out of their way to make this a lovely and educational experience for us. We missed the rest of the class, who had to miss this trip due to Envirothon and a recent Latin trip, but perhaps we can go again next year. The girls want to try paging--it looked like fun!
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