Youth Advocacy Summit Recap

On President's Day weekend, high school students gathered at St. David's for the Youth Advocacy Summit. We met with incredible speakers like Arati Singh, Mark Strama, Brandon Simon, Ann Howard, and John Howard. We had students representing six different high schools and at least three worshipping communities.

These students considered what their ideal community looked and operated like before ever approaching the current system, as well as our values as a group working in advocacy. We reviewed the bills going before the Texas Senate Education Committee and rank choice voted on which five to devote their attention to.

 Ultimately the group voted to take a deeper look at:

• SB10 Relating to the display of the Ten Commandments in public school classrooms
• SB13 Relating to a school district's library materials and catalog, the creation of local school library advisory councils, and parental rights regarding public school library catalogs and access by the parent's child to library materials
• SB645 Relating to including antisemitism in the definition of bullying for the purpose of school discipline policies
• SB870 Relating to the open carrying of a handgun by a uniformed school marshal
• SB966 Relating to the use of technology by public school students, including a study on the public health effects of digital learning and public school policies regarding student possession of personal communication devices; increasing a fee

The group split into pairs assigned to one bill each and read through the details of each bill. We learned how to find the committees and the names of the committee members, as well as how to read the bills and compare it to the current language already in effect. Each pair typed up a policy suggestion with information senators should consider before voting on these bills in committee. Finally, we walked our letters to the capitol building and delivered them to the offices of the 11 senators on the education committee. We learned how to navigate the capitol together - which can be confusing! - and had the opportunity to meet several staffers. We were also able to speak directly to Senator Brent Hagenbuch while delivering our policy suggestions.

Parishioner Stacia Bowley dreamed up this weekend and worked to bring it to fruition over the course of 16 months alongside Assistant Rector Kristin Braun and Kelsey Cooper, director of Youth and Young Adult Ministries.

Youth Advocacy Summit Weekend