By Ashanti Nevels
Mimosa City Reporter
With all of the speeches candidates have been giving in both state, county, and girls nation elections, it brings to light some real world issues seemingly plaguing the youth of today. Girls State is one of the best opportunities for young girls to learn about our government, our politics, and how we can enact genuine change in the world as we grow, which will benefit everyone.
One of the most beautiful parts of Girls State is the Girls Nation speeches. Wednesday morning and evening we got to hear from over 40 incredible young ladies on bills they would like to not just bring to Girls Nation, but also bring them to the real world. The bills highlighted what Girls State is truly about: inspiring a desire to help your community. After all, that’s the purpose of the government. There were so many important issues girls talked about during our time here, but by far three issues are the most important to the girls here.
The first issue is something especially unique to Arizona. The issue is education. Arizona is anywhere from 48th to 50th in education depending on the source being cited. All of the people in Girls State are students finished with their junior year of high school.
Most have many criticisms of their school. Often schools in Arizona receive poor funding, especially in the absence of a prominent sports team. Students here wish to further develop their educations, and receive more funding to aid in this. In addition, the quality and quantity of our teachers is dropping. Low salaries, difficult students, and lowered standards results in a low teacher retention.
Another issue to our citizens is our public healthcare. Unfortunately, our public healthcare is lacking, especially for women. Our citizens desire to have better, well-funded, equally accessible, and inclusive healthcare for the betterment of all Americans.
Finally, the environment is a huge concern, especially in Arizona. Arizona has been going through a drought for multiple years, and the heat just keeps increasing every year. With the recent increase in data centers around the country, girls worry that our temperatures will get out of control, and Arizona will become inhabitable.
All of these issues are real issues that affect our citizens every day. Arizona Girls State helps foster critical thinking skills, and the ability to help develop solutions and fight for change in our country.