Arshiya Alwadi – Manzanita City
Hello from Manzanita! What an exciting, ecstatic, election-filled day it has been.
Today, we jumped from our counties to the state meeting and then split in all different directions! In the Cocopah County meeting we finalized our votes for the county and state positions, and then attended the meeting with all of Girls State. Ms. Lennon spoke of the Nationalists’ platform to increase education, promote clean energy, and improve the community through mental health checks and volunteering. Then we heard Ms. Brown present the Federalist platform, which was based on clean energy, education, and healthcare.
The candidates gave amazing speeches for the general elections, and something that stood out to me was their emphasis on not taking party sides and to listen to everyone regardless of political affiliation. Then, us city bloggers conducted whistle stops to ask the candidates for Governor and Secretary of State about their views on topics such as education, climate change and the environment, and poverty. Each candidate gave such eloquent responses and their ideas brought a smile to my face. Congratulations Ms. Ocampo for becoming our Governor, and congratulations Ms. Traugutt on becoming Secretary of State!!
The Girls Nation candidates each spoke of a bill that they wanted to debate at the Girls Nation program in July. We heard fantastic ideas about improving access to education, mental health, voting laws, medical costs, and helping the community. These girls are all so empowering; the future of our country looks bright!
Afterwards, we split into meetings for the senators, representatives, city, and county. In the county, we appointed a few more positions and got to work on our county book and resolutions!
And for your Az fun fact of the day until tomorrow: The amount of copper on the Capitol building roof is equivalent to 4,800,000 pennies.