US Government teacher Mr. Keegan Schlake sponsored a trip with students from his classes to the Florida Capitol in Tallahassee on March 28th to explore the area and help students better understand how the state legislature is run.

   Thirteen students traveled to Tallahassee for a day where they explored both the Historic Capitol Museum and the Florida Capitol building during the annual legislative session. “We got to meet our State Representative Anna Eskamani, and were able to  go through the old capitol as well as the new capitol building and visit the floor of the State House and State Senators,” said Schlake. The field trip was held during ‘Children’s Week,’ an annual event that features educational activities, and outreach efforts, and seeks to elevate the diverse needs of Florida’s children and youth to our state leaders while acknowledging their achievements. 

   While the students were not able to witness a House session, they were able to briefly meet the representative and ask questions. “She [Eskamani] gave us a speech about child care, what it meant to be in congress and represent the community. We didn’t get to speak with her for long. She was very busy,” said Keegan Schlake.

   Eskamani met the students at the capital and spoke about some of the initiatives that she has in Congress. “Eskamani talked to the students about the concerns about the Governor and his campaign against Transgender people,” said Mr. Saul Laird, who helped chaperon the trip.

   The students took a tour of the Capitol, where they saw paintings of the Presidents throughout history, and met with people who worked in the buildings. “I asked the Senate Journalist Keeper about the paintings around the chamber. They were paintings of presidents circling around the roof, and what they do with the old paintings is that he keeps the journal entry for the retired president and puts those old paintings in the old capitol museum.” said senior Anh Pham.