The video dives into an educational program called "We the People," which fosters a deep understanding of the U.S. Constitution among high school students. Participants engage in mock congressional hearings to showcase their grasp of constitutional topics, challenging themselves in an intense yet enlightening competition format. Students share personal stories and perspectives of how their backgrounds, experiences, and school environments shape their views on government, citizenship, and rights.

The video further explores the varied lives and aspirations of the students involved in "We the People." It includes personal insights from diverse students across different high schools in Wyoming, Nevada, and Virginia. These students face societal hurdles, such as cultural disparities, inequality in education resources, and personal challenges, yet remain unwavering in their pursuit of knowledge, self-identity, and civic engagement.

Main takeaways from the video:

Please remember to turn on the CC button to view the subtitles.

Key Vocabularies and Common Phrases:

1. mock hearing [mɑk ˈhɪərɪŋ] - (noun) - A practice session simulating actual legal or congressional hearings where participants imitate real proceedings. - Synonyms: (simulated trial, practice hearing, rehearsal session)

It's a mock hearing style event in which competitors showcase their constitutional knowledge.

2. odyssey [ˈɒd.ə.si] - (noun) - A long, adventurous journey or experience. - Synonyms: (journey, adventure, voyage)

You've gone through the gauntlet. You've been through an odyssey that would make Homer.

3. immerse [ɪˈmɜːrs] - (verb) - To involve oneself deeply in a particular activity or interest. - Synonyms: (engage, absorb, submerge)

You're able to immerse yourself in a level of competition that rivals the Super bowl.

4. voracious [vəˈreɪʃəs] - (adjective) - Having an eager approach to something, especially regarding knowledge or information. - Synonyms: (insatiable, avid, eager)

He's a voracious reader. And he's just so, so brilliant.

5. gauntlet [ˈɡɔːnt.lɪt] - (noun) - A severe trial or ordeal. - Synonyms: (ordeal, trial, challenge)

You've gone through the gauntlet.

6. blissful ignorance [ˈblɪs.fəl ˈɪɡ.nɚ.əns] - (noun) - A state of happiness due to being unaware of unpleasant facts. - Synonyms: (contented oblivion, happy unawareness, peaceful ignorance)

I sometimes wish I lived in blissful ignorance and I didn't know what was going on.

7. disingenuous [ˌdɪsɪnˈdʒɛnjʊəs] - (adjective) - Not candid or sincere, typically by feigning ignorance. - Synonyms: (insincere, deceitful, dishonest)

Because if I let it consume me, then maybe I might become just another generic person who's complacent with this system, disingenuous.

8. civic [ˈsɪvɪk] - (adjective) - Relating to a city or town, especially its administration; municipal. - Synonyms: (municipal, civil, urban)

Inject civic education back into american schools.

9. perpetual [pərˈpetʃuəl] - (adjective) - Never ending or changing. - Synonyms: (eternal, enduring, everlasting)

My students are perpetually always fighting this reputation of what people think of the south side and our kids.

10. polarization [ˌpoʊləraɪˈzeɪʃən] - (noun) - Division into two sharply contrasting groups or sets of opinions or beliefs. - Synonyms: (division, segregation, disunity)

We hear all the time about polarization being kind of the downfall of our society.

Meet the Students in America's Top Civics Competition - Citizen Nation - Full Episode 1 of 4 - PBS

I wouldn't say I'm creating patriots or revolutionaries. I just want to create better citizens. But when it comes to this competition, everybody wants to win, and that's just the way it is. It's a mock hearing style event in which competitors showcase their constitutional knowledge. We're looking forward to an engaging discussion this afternoon, and the judges grade the student performance. Do the framers anticipate technology? And the winners will go to a national tournament. I know you all have spent hours and hours reading and debating. You've gone through the gauntlet. You've been through an odyssey that would make Homer. Will it? You're able to immerse yourself in a level of competition that rivals the Super bowl. We worked hard on this. You feel that adrenaline. You don't know what the judge is gonna say.

Winning would honestly make my life whole. And now it is showtime. Hey, back it up. They always say that Wyoming's one big, small town. Everyone knows each other, which is something that I kind of enjoyed because I like those close and personal interactions. All done. You know, there's a rancher mentality of hard work. Come on. I know. Taking care of one another, ensuring that everyone has what they need. But I don't think we're at a place like that anymore. Cause we're unwilling to compromise right now, which is troubling to me, because I just think that differing of opinions creates better governance, and we're starting to move away from that and become not as connected.

Okay. We, the people right here. You guys want to drum roll me? Just joking. You already know your units, okay? Oh, but you guys did that well. Okay, so let's go ahead and get rolling. Get your units ready. Go. Move. I truly believe that a teacher has more influence on a kid than their parents at this stage because they are starting to figure out who they are. Okay, the first thing I want you guys to talk about. Do you want a captain? If so, maybe. Who would be your person? What do you guys think? Yeah, I feel like we don't need a team captain. Okay. We were just talking about democracy. I heard, like, when you have somebody who comes into your life and they're not a parent, but they are some sort of authority figure, I think when they're in this really crucial time of figuring out a what do I believe? Where's my place in the world?

I think we have an immense amount of influence. Hey. Yeah. Why didn't the skeleton go to the dance? Wait. He had no body to. He didn't have the guts to do it. Why did the cookie, go to the doctor because he's feeling crummy. All right, so let's do your quiz. My full name is Elias Joseph Cash Blaze Wallace. I am all about the revolutionary war, the bill of rights, knowing your laws, your state laws. Because you gotta be well informed if you wanna live in this country. Elias. Yeah. Let's just kind of talk about who the federalists and the anti federalists were. To give you guys an idea. So the federalists, they wanted a strong national government. The anti federalists, you guys. South high school. I think we have a fairly negative perception in our town. In the state of Wyoming, we're rated, like, the worst high school.

I've had kids who have kindergarten reading levels. Kids with substantial emotional language barriers. Two, the constitution is already a protection of your rights. Mario, is he okay? No. Mario's gonna be here. We know he'll be late, but. He'll be here. But my kids have experienced life. They've had to overcome a lot of adversity. Hello, Mario. Oh, yeah. Look at the shirt. Okay. Yeah. Mario, this is your team. Okay. So, Mario, I just handed out them their questions. Mario is very turned off by school. Every unit is going to prepare three essays. So he came to my class the first day of school and then went Mia for about two and a half weeks. And I went and sought him out in another class. And I was like, hey, I must see you at class next time, right? And he's like, yeah, I'll be there in the morning. And I'm like, okay. And then he wasn't. So I was like, I have to get more creative. I have to find a way to get this kid to come to school. Misses.

Lynn's a nice person. I mean, she got me the shirt because I kept skipping class. My thing that I like to do is when kids do something ridiculous, I make a shirt out of them. And it says, everything's better together on the front and on the back, it has a picture of me. Just like the picture right here. The back had a picture of Mario, and it said, if found, please return to a 106, which is my classroom. And the second he heard about the shirt, he shows up to class. I mean, I think she was trying to shame me with it, but I thought it was really funny, so I just started showing up. He's late every day. I don't care. He's still here. Those fair assumptions that I got from you. He loves to learn. He hates education. He's a voracious reader. And he's just so, so brilliant.

There's something that's going to happen in this class that happens in no other class, you're going to rise to the occasion because other. I feel as if my students are perpetually always fighting this reputation of what people think of the south side and our kids. But the second you step in here, we take care of each other because we're the underdogs. I tell my students all the time, this is the most important class you will ever take in your high school career, because you need to know your rights. You need to know if there's an issue, how to solve a problem. I think our world is headed in a really scary direction. And my generation has shown that they are not going to solve it, but we can get the next generation, too. I really like empowering kids, and I like fighting for the underdogs. So in Wyoming, we have something called cowboy ethics. When you make a promise, do it. Keep your word. Or if you say that you're going to commit to something, commit to it.

Timber. Obviously, he's put down to stay. Timber. Stay. Timber. Stick. There's no testing the water. It's like, jump in and just do it. Let him go. Yeah, let him go. Come on. Let him go. Timber. Get the bird. We take hunting very seriously around here. Good boy. Timber. Pretty bird. My freezers are full of wild meat. I have six kids. It makes it way easier to feed them. Ready? We hear all the time about polarization being kind of the downfall of our society, at least right now. But I'm not so sure I buy completely into that. I'll see you when I get home. The way that I feel about this country is we've got serious issues. And I think we need serious people to tackle those issues. Go, 1234. Hit. Sheridan High School has a great reputation.

It's one of the best in the state. Our music program is excellent. Our football program is excellent. All right, let's go. Just a quick background for those of you who aren't familiar with Sheridan High School's we the people team. Since 2009, sheridan High School has won ten state championships and three national awards at the national competition in Washington, DC. Brooke, are you here? Jacob. Eva. Katie, Susie, jackson. Most of the students that take AP government with the people are some of our highest academic achievers. I've had kids that have been the valedictorian. I've had kids that have gone on to Columbia and Stanford and Harvard. Okay, so here's what I'm gonna do. I'm gonna tell you where you're gonna go, and then I'm gonna come by each one of your groups and we're gonna talk through how you do this. Capiche? Thank you. In 1987, the we the people program started. We were in the 200th anniversary of the Constitution, and there was a bipartisan effort to basically inject civic education back into american schools.

You cannot destroy property or infringe on others rights. And so the program's been running from 1987 until now. How's everybody doing? Pretty good. You ready to tackle this? The competition? In a nutshell, it boils down to a mock congressional hearing. We've all seen on C SPAN or news outlets, people testifying in front of Congress on whatever issue it could be. Immigration, health care, abortion, guns, whatever. And you see the panel of senators or representatives, and then you see the witnesses. That's really what we're trying to create. It was hearing to order. Yes, it's a daunting task. But remember, you're not testing the water jumping. Thank you. You're jumping right in. The rules of the competition are first students have four minutes to read an oral argument. Are we figuring this out or what? Kay, remember, you just gotta jump in the water. And then they get grilled in a question and answer session. Just like members of Congress grill witnesses to get information, correct the wrongs, no proposal, and other things. You can imagine the need for something like that. Correct.

It's gotta be a coherent train of thought in your essay. But then in the Q and A, you can disagree. You don't all have to agree with that. There is no right answer to a lot of these topics. The judges don't care what you say or how you say it or what your positions are. They just want you to be able to think for yourself and to be able to critically look at both sides of an issue and then make your own judgments. And they're basically saying, well, the second amendment is based on history, right? Individuals have the right to keep and bear arms. So should we have the right to keep and bear arms? Today, a lot of the students come in with preconceived notions of, like, what they think they are. And then when we talk about it and they look at it and they learn it a little bit more, they're like, maybe I'm not this or that. Maybe I'm more like in the middle.

It's gonna take time. You'll get there. Have a great day. I'll see you folks tomorrow. 2425-2627-2829-3031-32 keep going. I don't like sheridan. I describe everybody who doesn't go to south is just entitled rich kids. Just because we live on the kind of poor side of town here. Yeah, all the way up. Thousand. Thousand, 2000. I've lived here in Cheyenne my whole life. Politically more conservative because that's what my parents, my grandparents think. Raiders. Witch. Punk woman. The army vent. No army. After I graduate, I plan on joining the air force. Now we're in the army. I'm really adamant about it because I'm not gonna be able to pay for college otherwise. I love talking to people. People are awesome. Later. I love humanity and how we can accomplish amazing things when we put our minds together but can't really do that anymore because everyone just wants to fight with each other. People nowadays don't sit down and talk. We don't actually listen to each other. Instead, we just say, no, no, no, you're wrong.

And we don't say, here's why. Cause that's the best question you could ask ever, is why not? And I feel that if we communicate, life would be a whole lot better for everyone. Hi. I'm checking the pie right now. Oh, yeah. Young pie. You're doing thanksgiving early? Yep. Cheaters never prosper. No, they don't. How's our Rotc going for it? It's going amazing. I'm really liking it. My father is the hardest working individual that I know. He works on h vac systems. He's been doing it for years. He's actually got his master's card a little bit ago, so, you know, he's good at his job. Oh, shoot. My rice is gonna burn. Oh, no, I can't do that. Oops. My parents got divorced, my mom and dad, years ago. And my dad's pretty much been my primary caregiver. I've been a single dad since Elias was, like, five. I'm a construction worker guy that's divorced. Friggin single. Divorced construction worker guy. Two kids, I figured, still paying on my truck. It doesn't mean that I'm not happy with where I'm at.

I mean, not everybody could be on top. What else have you been doing in school? So. And we the people. First question. We have sets of questions that we do. My question set is the first question that we were doing was on gun laws. The part I was on, because we do it as a group of people, okay? It's on gun laws. One of the biggest values of this class is the amount of information that they're giving him about our rights. It's things that open my eyes. It's like, dude, I didn't really realize that's how that's really working. And then he has me. Like I'm on the Internet. Was he right, dude? Trying to distract me. So, do you know what party, or, if you like, independent or you think you're republican? Libertarian. Libertarian. You ain't trying to live in the woods? Check. I ain't trying to live in the woods. But I feel like a lot of the things that they say is like, government. Get off my back. But, um, certain things that I feel like I have changed my mind on and have thought more liberally than, say, conservative.

I don't know what I am now. All I know is that in four years, I'm moving out to the woods and I'm gonna live in a log cabin. And all of society can just leave me alone because I'm so fed up. You wanna come back to cavemen times? Yep, kaden, you can go ahead and get through it. Okay? I'll bet. I think that you form your views from the upbringing, where you are. It's kind of like a nature versus nurture thing. Hey, slow down, Feli. No, I didn't know, dude, like, you felt like you're a libertarian. Is that what you think? I think that freaking. The government needs to leave me alone so I can go out to the woods and be a bear. I want to be left alone, but I just want them to pay for my college. I'll tell you this much. You don't get anything you don't earn. Good morning, coyotes. Homecoming spirit week is upon us. This year's homecoming theme, it's night in Neverland. What are you doing for homecoming? So me and my friends are planning on going to, like, this trip and, like, walking around and then eating at the taipan. We might be going to BJ's or the strip, bro.

The pazukis at BJ's go crazy. Really? Yeah. Have you never had their puzzu? I've never been there. The girl. They're so good. What's in it? I grew up in a very political household, so instead of having cartoons on, the. The news was constantly on. And the news is still constantly on because I watch it as well. And I've just learned that I really like debating politics. And I like to give speeches on it, and I like to discuss it. So I'm always prepared for any topic. I'm really excited for homecoming. I think this is our last one. Hi, Daphne. We were just talking about our homecoming plans. Hannah, are you going to the way that people thinking. Well, I have opened. We were talking about. Are you going? Yeah. Southwest CTA is a very diverse school. A lot of my students are first generation immigrants coming from working or middle class families that really care and see education as, like, a path to a better future. That whole idea of the american dream, you're not. I was gonna go, but they're like, you haven't paid all your credit fees, so I couldn't get a ticket.

This high school, southwest CTA, it was literally my dream school. I've been living in the Las Vegas area for my entire life. I really love my state. Nevada is kind of like the last frontier of the wild west, and I think that speaks to the real idea of freedom that I believe in. So I'll review a few things about how this works. You're an expert testifying to Congress about the constitution. So you are taking positions, right? Like, you want to have conviction. You want to have passion, right? Don't be afraid. Because I've had groups where judges have said, like, I wish you showed yourselves a little more in terms of what you think and what you care about. You guys could bring up, like, how your parents are immigrants and, like, how they got here for better opportunities for all of us. All our parents are immigrants.

Especially when you grow up in an immigrant home and, like, you're the only one in your entire community who's there. I am actually from the Philippines. I live there for twelve years of my life. I'm from Nigeria. I came here in 2019. My parents did come from Mexico, and I know all the hardships that they have to go through. Even still today, I'm nigerian. And, like, growing up, I think the first language I learned was Yoruba. And then I didn't know English until I had to go to school for English. My mom and dad, they've shown me things that I probably couldn't learn from just a typical american experiences. Yeah. And that's all really relevant. Great stuff. Like, the immigration thing's a great idea. So, yes, personal experience works. Any other thoughts on how you might bring it in? Growing up in Las Vegas, people call it Sin city for a reason, but if it weren't for that tourism industry, then I wouldn't be in a good economic situation, because my entire family is employed in the casino industry. Right. How are you doing today? Yeah, it's more. Okay, good boy.

My mom is an immigrant from Thailand. She's a dealer. She deals table games at MGM grand. My dad is from Virginia. He's a shift manager at New York, New York. Can you just hold it out like that? So it's tight. English is not my mom's first language, and I never really learned how to speak Thai. You need help? Yes. I would say that I identify with my mom more on, like, a motherly love basis. Like, we're here to support each other and love each other. Absolutely. But when it comes to, you know, things like my academic life, I'm not able to connect with her through that space as much. So that's a traditional thai outfit. There we are in the water. But the relationship is different in my dad. Oh, when we were at the beach, I feel like I connect with my dad through all sorts of different facets. Mountains north of San Diego. Ethan, he's got a real work ethic.

He's an independent thinker. I mean, it's just very impressive. Some of the things that he's been able to accomplish at his age. I don't know. I feel like I'm unnecessarily bragging about him. Oh, there we are up at the top. I feel like as I have moved through life, I've become a little more disconnected with my mom's heritage. I'm, like, really regretful that I never learned how to speak Thai. That's very pretty. Sometimes when it's difficult to connect with my mom, I feel like I'm missing a piece of my character. People really don't want to. They don't want to look beneath the surface. You know, they've got their worldview, and they've got their group of people, and that's the real thing that's happened. People around the country have just become more extreme. Yeah, I think more extremes on both sides. Right on left, stand right, and more intolerant, just of any kind of different viewpoint.

Are we the people? Class is primarily left leaning. So as somebody who tends to lean more center. Right. I would say that I'm definitely an intellectual minority in the class. You know, the district competition is happening right after my birthday. The day after the day after your birthday? Yeah. Not that we're not all friends, but, you know, I feel, like, lonely sometimes. At times, I do feel like I'm on an island. All right. Morning, everybody. Morning. So we're gonna try to pack a lot in today. I have this problem a lot where I'm not as confident in myself as I should be. Right. So what do people say here, Ethan? This is basically just another mechanism in which tyranny of the majority can flourish. Right. Because if you just need. I think just for being more ideologically right leaning, it can be easy to reject somebody's entire philosophical or political basis. Right? Like, you know, this guy's bad. He's the villain.

So more populous states, which I try to be excellent in my personal character to kind of debunk that myth. So that's basically just a legal mechanism that bigger states can use to enforce their will on smaller states. Good. Eli. As much as I would like to say that the idea that a republican government is based on a small group, a lot of these small groups were very bitter. We can see this from Eldridge Jerry of Massachusetts. I think I would say our strongest competitor in the class is definitely Elijah. He sounds angry and upset that his. And though she tends to disagree with a lot of my positions personally, I appreciate that she never lets someone off the hook. Like, she'll always give them something to argue with, which I think is definitely a good thing. And it keeps everybody on their toes. Right. Okay, Ethan. The judicial branch needs to be an isolated vacuum that is not perverted by a political will at any point.

Okay, so now you're. I'm looking forward to competing this year and finding my own self confidence again and maybe proving to myself once and for all that I can do something great if I put my mind to it. Can I use we in this essay? What do you mean we? As in this essay, we will analyze lyrics and delve into the culture. What? No. Better to just say this essay examines or analyzes who by that, you are not personalizing anything, using it as a focal point to exist. My dad is absolutely brilliant. He's a political science professor at UNLV. My PhD concentration is not primarily in american politics. It is international relations. But I have minor in comparative politics and american politics. So let me send this to you now. Well, thank you for emailing me while I'm sitting right next to you, because I'm sending it to your mailbox. So. So Elizabeth is our first daughter. She is. Let's see.

She's funny, serious, opinionated. Yeah. Always have reflections on my relationship with Elizabeth. When I was in graduate school, I would sometimes take Elizabeth to class, so I'll go everywhere with her. Okay. What are you doing? I'm trying to edit this paper on African Union and pan Africanism. Growing up, I watched the news with my dad. Twenty four seven. And we would talk. We'd talk and we'd talk and he'd explain these things to me. And then once I gained an understanding, I would do my own research or I would just form my own opinion. There's, like, more onion, more tomato, more bell pepper than there is egg. That will be okay. Coming from an immigrant family, it is right in your face how bad things are around the world. It sometimes feels hopeless. I sometimes wish I lived in blissful ignorance and I didn't know what was going on. I remember googling my dad in the fifth grade and seeing his name in the articles, and I was like, nigerian man free after two years in prison, nigerian man receives victory in the court case. I was like, why is my dad in a court case?

And then someone looked over my shoulder and said, oh, your dad's a criminal. I was like, no, no, no. My dad's a good person. He's never done anything. I got home and I said to my mom, hey, mommy. I looked up daddy, and it said, he went to jail. And they sat us down like all three of you, my sisters. And they gave us a rundown of what happened. Basically, he was falsely accused of murder, and they kept him in prison for two years for a crime he didn't commit. When I was younger, I would, like, be so upset that my dad isn't home. Oh, I thought he was at work. No, he wasn't at work. He was sitting in a cell where he didn't belong and, like, a little pray as a family. Just me, my mom, and my sister. She would say to me, God loves you, jesus loves you, daddy loves you. And I would just be like, well, daddy's in Nigeria. I would always, like, in my mind, just go back and place him in different places.

I think, you know, when you're growing up and you're two years old and you're in love with your dad, they're always together, and all of a sudden, it's gone. And then you start to wonder, okay, what happened to this man that used to be here every afternoon when he came back? I was so, so, so happy he had come back from Nigeria. And I think the worst part is, you escape a country that's war torn, you escape poverty, you come here to try and make a better life for your family back home, and you end up in the middle of the prison industrial complex. I look back now, and sometimes randomly, I'll just say, thank you, lord, that I'm here for them. Yes, great injustice. But for the rest of my life, I remain grateful. Your mom threw the other one away for him to say, I forgive them. He said he figures everybody, he's a better person than me because I don't. And that's like when I started getting into politics and where I started to understand why things were the way they were and how it was wrong.

And then I realized I absolutely despise the american prison system. I don't believe it should work that way. I believe it hurts people because towards the end of the day, the term enemy combatant was vague and loose as by design, so that the president can detain anyone that he sees fit. But that's why I do want to work in civil rights law, because I want to be there to speak for people. I want to make sure I can help people, and not for money, but for the sake of making sure that these people don't have to go through what I have to go with my dad and yogurt. The right to due process goes to all american citizens, regardless of the crimes we believe they have committed. If we are stripping to make sure no other little girl is mine in her bed just saying. Where's my dad? Morning. Maggie Walker was always really my goal to go to as a school.

I've wanted to go here since I was an eight year old. So I applied, I got in, and I was really happy about that. You're now part of a very long tradition over here. This is the very first week of people team 119 98. My full name is Skyler Kaden Cole. Van Valkenburg. It's a long one. This is a competition, yes, but it's an intellectual journey more than it is a competition. I'll hopefully guide you to victory, but it's also a way to grow. All right. The place where your unit tag was located is your unit. Go. This is my 13th year of teaching high school. Here at Maggie Walker. I was a student here at Maggie Walker. I have a strong sense of both the capacity of the students here and their intellectual curiosity, but also the pressure cooker which they find themselves in. In a fairly elite high school. I will say one of my specialties is roman republic.

Aristotle's politics is going to be a big deal. I think the typical Maggie Walker student is very motivated. Obviously, we're all very intelligent. We have to take a test to get in. This is gonna sound a little arrogant, but winning this Mackie Walker tradition, like last year, we won first in the nation. So there's sort of a pressure. Like anything else is worse than what last year did. I feel like we have to win nationals. Cause they won it last year. We're winners, I guess. I mean, that feels weird to say because I have not won anything. But that's kind of part of the reason I wanted to be on this team, because I knew it would be packed with people that like actually care. I don't think that you can get to a high achieving place without having that sort of fire within you. And I've always been competitive. I like winning. I'm a pretty competitive person in general.

All of your peers are very hardworking and ambitious. People who went to Harvard will never stop telling you that they went to Harvard. It's true. For Maggie Walkers, we the people team. I think this is useful. It has all the drafts and all the motions for the second amendment. The proper clause, article three, the good behavior. Kind of a fair strike. You don't get to choose. I'm just gonna heavily disagree with you the whole time. No. Yeah. That's what we need. I ended up in we the people because government and us history were really fun and I wanted to continue doing it. Fine. That's an option also. Cause my dad's in government. I mean, I want to follow in his footsteps one day. How are you? And there he goes. Happy Glen island day. You guys don't look like you're having so much fun. Hey, I'm smiling. I love the rain. I feel like I get confused. I'm smiling, daddy. I mean, it's wet as hell.

My dad is Skyler Van Valkenburg. What's up? How are you? He's the current delegate for the 72nd district of the Virginia House of Delegates and a government teacher at Glenallan High School. How are you guys? You guys having fun? And we lost the gym. I love all the kids being troopers. I love all the kids being troopers. How are y'all? You got a raincoat? You don't put it on the hood, I'll take it off. What's up? How's it going? Golf again? I mean, I'm sure dad's taught half the kids here. My dad, he's been teaching for most of my life at various schools and first ran for office in 2017 following the presidential election that year. He's been doing this since I was eleven year old. I'm gonna keep it brief because we got a lot of doors to knock. We only have 31 days. Time is scarce. Right. Back when I was an eleven year old, I knew nothing about how the campaigning process works.

I used to think it was mostly just like giving speech and why you should vote for me, but a lot of it is the more boring stuff. Hello. How are you? Good. How are you? Good. My name is Skyler. I'm running to be your state senator this November. Love to earn your vote. This year, the campaigns mostly centered around abortion. After Dobbs v. Jackson Democrats going pro choice trying to get a amendment for that in the Virginia state constitution. You've got to win this. You've got this down. Yeah, we're feeling good. We're doing the work. So that's why I'm here. You are. And you're all over the tv. So that's fabulous. Yeah. I will go out and some people will say that they've seen my dad's ads. They're everywhere. It's absurd. I had a canvas in go feel it was good. Not a lot of doors opened, but that's okay. Tv is important, though. Yes.

People watch tv. I'll just quote some of the lines from his ads at him that I think are particularly corny. I'm Skyler van Valkenberg. When I'm not here, I'm here in a classroom of high school students. Here I'm a teacher and I represent you here. And here I put it into action. I'm a teacher, I'm a parent, and I'm a delegate. That stuff, I've heard it so many times, makes me cringe every time. Yeah. Yeah. A lot of my life is just focused, like what my dad is doing. In some ways, we're gonna be gone, so we'll be back. So figure out dinner is what you're telling me. Yeah, figure out dinner is what I'm telling you. Yeah. But I know he's doing this because he thinks he can make a difference. It's really inspiring to see that your dad, who was just a teacher at a public high school, is now, like, one of the more important people, the state.

It's just really cool. This is the best way to learn government. It's the best way to understand why it matters. But you're also going to be like, doing citizenship as you learn it. So all the things that make a good citizen, you're going to be doing. You're going to have to dialogue with a group member you don't agree with. You're going to have to hear someone say they don't like what you said. That, too, my friends, is democracy. Right. Okay. And also, basically, my dad is in charge of our rival team, which is stressful, exciting. This is about a process. Do I want to win? Yes. My son is on an opposing team. We got a lot of stake this year. No pressure. Right. Okay. Like, we must defeat them. Certainly he wants to be dead, right? Certainly he wants the bragging rights. And I will not hear the end of it. Of course, if they winden, if it's not listed in the constitution, it belongs to the states.

Thanks. Okay. It's kind of what a lot of states say, that this is where we get power. Instead of everyone squabbling about whether or not we should have guns, just let the states decide it because we don't have to be angry with people across the country for having different views. If the state that we live in just decides, you know what I mean? Especially like population density wise. That's the main reason. If California were to ban guns, but we didn't. Yeah, exactly. They just go to Wyoming if they really. I do like learning about government and stuff because it's a concept that interests me. What did we say we were keeping?

Education, Leadership, Inspiration, Civic Engagement, Youth Empowerment, Wyoming, Pbs