 We're waiting for it. We've got it, we've got it, we've got it. We've got it, we've got it, we've got it. Okay, good. Alright. What's that? Any problem? Okay, great. So I need to change the plans. I'm going to test your parents. What do you think? You can ask them questions. First of all, let me thank all of the students. This is the 13th annual State of the Union contest. We had almost 400 essays submitted from 31 schools that you guys were judged to be the best by a group of independent teachers in my office and nothing to do with determining who the winners are. All and the purpose of this contest is to try to get young people in our state to start thinking about many of the important issues that we deal with every day and face as you get older and impact the country today. And one of the concerns that I personally have and why I initiated this contest is that a lot of young people go up on the stand of all the government in their lives and I wanted you to get thinking about that and you guys did that in a very strong way. I don't know how many of you have received the success of the State of the Union speech on Tuesday night but what this is about is to ask you what you're getting out there in a new House of Representatives in Washington which is not quite as pretty as this from the beginning. It's a bit larger than you had in roughly 435 members of the House of Representatives to set it up. And you're talking to those people and you're talking to many millions of people watching on TV. What is the State of the Union and what are its strengths and weaknesses and that's the spot. So that's what I'm going to ask you to do with you guys in a new way is to make it a tradition that the Union is most important and I was very impressed by what you wrote. I want to do something that I'm a hard teacher not as nice as you are teachers because I want you to before I even get to yours what we'll do is we'll go around and take it from number one you'll call us briefly what your essay was about I'll ask you some questions and I want to let you jump in as well so if you have some thoughts about what somebody is saying and you disagree you talk about the disagreement about what they have that kind of informal discussion but I want to begin the discussion I ask you in a sense a hard question in that is how do you come by what you come by how do you come to your own views what are the factors that made you the most important topics being most important how do you develop your own worldviews just as they are competing with parents say how do you come to independently assess your views who wants to jump up here's your names hold on my name is Andrew I think it's kind of a mix of personal experience and then just what you hear my name is Andrew we got I'm going to say some of the things that develop your own view is personal experience for one you can go around and get your own information from your own experiences but then also just listening to things around you like the news might not be the best source but corroborating evidence just yeah so my name is Josh for everybody I think today in the US one thing we're struggling with is just multiple narratives and trying to parse out what is truth from what is false and that's becoming increasingly difficult with the rise of social media and then we're increasingly able to communicate with people around the country and organize without having to be in person I think that came to a head in January 6th two years ago very clearly so I think this is just very difficult and what has happened is everybody now unlike a hundred years ago everybody's getting their information from wherever they want to get their information so everybody kind of has the freedom now to just validate their own opinions and become more extreme your own personal experiences not just getting information from the internet how does your own personal life experiences impact your views if you grew up the son of daughter of a billionaire living in a kind of mansion would that have an impact on the views that's growing up as a lower-income person living in a trail dog what do you think what's the comment on that is your own life experience what impact it is August you're the unlucky person right? good how's son? the issue of your own personal life based on if you're a woman or a man good so when we come to different experiences than men do different experiences like people don't do different experiences than men do who wants to build up a small yes can you try without the mic okay so I thought of this career as a realm of life when it comes to a lot I think that there's a lot of different things to deal with people in different economic situations and I think that's definitely at least through talking to people at school it definitely impacts how people see different issues and their own histories and also the people who are surrounded by people who live in the grass maybe it's an epic survival beyond a racial diversity so that has an impact good in a city it's people's perspectives any formal thoughts on how your life experience might impact your individual views Samantha? be a little bit louder okay good let's get to work now let's start talking about the essay and the essay that was judged number one is from August is a junior at Winfield a union school and August very briefly what's it all about and be loud excuse me could you please use the microphone so we can use the mic maybe I'm only close to you I wrote about misinformation in social media and how essentially we don't have any way to kind of relate that type of thing because social media platforms are kind of held different standards than because even though it's really important for people to kind of be able to voice their opinion and like have freedom of speech when it comes to how it impacts our democratic process it's become a pretty big issue and like being forced into action because of kind of false news okay good August writes on a really, really important issue and it's a deep issue goes well beyond January 6th because of giving an example just the other day on the chairman of the committee which has 20 women 11 Democrats and 10 Republicans and let's talk to a guy who is matter of fact a smart guy in the United States Senate and he believes quite strongly that in fact Trump won the election so if you were to tell him that his information is based on false news he would say young lady I know more about it than you do and I have information now he actually won so if you say no, why do you think you're right, your information is right and his information is wrong like I think Trump lost Trump how do we deal with that issue he's not asleep I mean I would ask him where I would ask him where he got that information it is really hard to determine what information is correct I probably have a lesser chance of being able to do that I would say because I just have information information from the internet alright this is tough stuff and by the way hold the mic, I think this might work better if you pass the mics around it is very hard somebody will tell you tomorrow I was in bed last night God appeared to me talked to him and he told me that X, Y, and Z happened the person is telling the truth sincere they believe it alright anyone here think they know the truth absolutely 100% you got it all let's talk about it who is going to judge what the truth is alright you want a board how are we going to do it so if I want to write on my internet page X, Y, and Z happen you think it's wrong why do we deal with that jump in by the way if you are a little bit perplexed about this you don't feel badly everybody this is supreme courts wrestle with us how do we deal with it what is truth and if I disagree with your version of truth in the United States give you a very good clear example Donald Trump in my view and I don't mean to be politically I really don't in my view he's a liar I think he lies all the time he was banned from the internet from twitter and facebook I guess president of the United States not allowed to communicate with his constituents now I think he's a liar there are tens of millions of people who like him very much should he be banned from the internet because I think he's a liar but thoughts how do you deal with it well I just want to say that it is his right to free speech but I think it violates the clear and present danger when it causes things like January 6th which deems it unconstitutional good now we're getting into another area so you're saying he has the freedom of speech but if he says something that could lead to violence and taking somebody else's life you can't cross this that's kind of what you're saying Alexander right wrong thoughts on it what do you think hold on Mike a little bit closer to you bring it closer to you I think it's a fair point if he says something that openly goes against or grids or to mean something anyone else want to jump on that yeah I think that there's a difference between just sharing your opinions and your political beliefs and inciting something to happen towards action I feel like anybody has the right on social media and wherever they want to say what they believe but at that point it's not saying what you believe it's having people act on something that might cause violence might cause harm to them and also harm to others good okay I just um this is a tough issue because even on that where people say well you know Leah you're right and somebody says I didn't mean anybody to be violent I just why are you interpreting that and what we call is dog whistles you know what a dog whistle is where somebody really knows what they want out of it but it doesn't look it's like go out and take a gun and shoot somebody no one says that but they give signals of what they kind of violence they may want alright the point is this is a very important issue you guys have done a good job in discussing it nobody has a magical solution the balance here is do we believe that people have the right to express their point of view yes do we believe that people have a right to create conditions where people might get hurt or killed no and how you draw that line ain't easy so August thank you very much for raising that important issue the second winner was maybe I hope I'm pronouncing it right justison is that right okay lahoo okay justison tell us what you wrote about my name is Jay and I wrote about political polarization and like in the united states how issues are becoming more and more divisive and that can like weaken democracy and hurt the government and why we should try to target that and fix it and my propose was an act that would help economic inequality it would improve education and it would create citizen assemblies keep going it's a good start you don't think I'm going to let you off that easy and yeah I wrote about how polarization can lead to congressional gridlock lack of trust and increase in violence and a less sensitive community and economic inequality is a big factor of this because it creates social divisions between groups of people and by doing certain things like bringing up the minimum wage improving the income tax credit improving education especially pre-k and teaching kids how to differentiate between fake and factual information that would help to reduce the risk of extreme partisan growth okay I want to pick up on what should we call it justices J J right wrong what do you think important issue yep my name is Elena I completely agree with J on this I think that for government to be functional there's a little bit of difference of opinion just so that we get a wide range of issues covered in different ways but I think when it pushes to extremism it becomes dangerous and personally I read your essay and I liked your proposed solutions so I think you did a good job of that thank you other thoughts on polarization should I come I think you can run into a balance between freedom and anarchy whereas if you have complete freedom it becomes anarchy where anyone can say whatever they want it kind of relates back to the first one in a sense where it can push people to extremes because the people in the extremes will take the most action and then those who take the most action will then silence out everyone in the middle and it can create extreme polarization which can no longer create balance and I feel like ensuring constant voices are heard and there's a constant cycling of people in government it can always new voices are always being heard that way the same voices after spending a long time no offense but it can some people can there are other people that can get to more and more extremism because it can erode responsibility but I think you've done a good job of that that's okay okay further thoughts on that issue let me throw I think for a democracy to be healthy and to thrive it needs to have a variety of views like the wide spectrum I think the issue is though in a two-party system like we have generally what happens unlike a multi-party system is parties attack each other how much consequence so what's happened is I think small groups of each party I think it goes back to the 90s with Speaker Gingrich have radicalized each other basically and the issue that causes is that once you get to a certain point it transforms from democracy to autocracy so like radicals and I forget the beyond conservative term for it but this want to use violence to get your way I think that's what happens once extremism goes too far okay more thoughts I also think a good example of this situation taking place is how like the election of the Speaker of the House again and again and again they had to keep redoing this election and the Speaker had to make more and more concessions to the Republicans because it was a majority of the whole chamber that needed to be required and in some ways that's a good sense that it requires a large consent to the country but on another sense that can also actually hurt the cause because it pushes people to extremes where then they have to conceive with the most extreme member of their party in order to actually get elected because it is so divided it's not like one party can be like they have to make concessions to them because of these majority systems which then lock it in and create one gridlock and two it provides concessions to extremes which leads to more gridlock and it's a negative feedback loop or positive feedback loop early this week I met with the minister of I can't remember her exact title but from Finland and her portfolio includes healthcare and a bunch of other important issues she was telling me that in Finland she is part of a coalition government what does that mean a coalition government let me get some more hands here what does a coalition government say in Europe or Latin America mean okay, uh, Joshua when they're like in the UK for example when there's not a majority in the parliament what they'll do is they'll work together to make a majority that they can work with and then the government can stand until that sometimes in certain countries well the better example in the UK is in World War II they had a multi-party all the parties came together to run the war uh how does our system of government what are the major parties in the United States you all know that, what are they Samantha what are the two major parties in America right, okay I happen to be an independent who caucuses with the Democrats but by and large the members of the Congress are Democrats or Republicans we have a two-party system is that necessarily the case all over the world in Europe for example is it the case as I was mentioning the minister from Finland was telling me that in her country there are like 10 different parties and she is part of a coalition government which in order to get a majority in order to form a government and get a majority of the members of parliament or whatever they call it in Finland you need the different parties to come together so I think they have four or five parties in in that government in Finland she represents a particular party where there are only two representatives that's called a coalition government we don't have that but the other thing is she has to sit down with people she is a strong progressive with people much more conservative than she is who are also part of that coalition which you know makes for interesting politics okay anybody want to say more on polarization okay third essay judge the third place Kenan Wallace Kenan is a junior at Twinfield Union School and the essay is on unions and labor rights Kenan, Varaya I'm Kenan I wrote about the undermining of unions and workers rights especially recently I've been seeing a lot of stuff about lots of different companies but especially Starbucks and Amazon either firing union organizers or giving selective pay raises and that sort of thing and this whole thing is it was kind of just disturbing to me how there's no real repercussions for those kind of actions being taken against workers and labor unions I'm interested in that issue a few things my grandfather was a union worker at a paper mill for about 30 years so it's on some levels it's personal it's a personal thing for me and then also just seeing it in the news was pretty it caught my attention okay thank you, good essay my name is Harold Schultz I started Starbucks from nothing I created it to an international business very popular make great coffee and I want to run my company the way I want to run my company what's your problem I think I think there needs to be regulations that ensure just basic rights for employees of these larger companies I don't think it's okay to not have this in place I think that there is something to be said I treat my work as just fine I go out of my way to make sure that every diverse workforce blacks and browns Muslims and Latinos and I'm a really nice guy I think the evidence of a number of Starbucks locations say otherwise about that kind of thing I think there's a clear desire for that in the workforce alright now is keen in making an important point why can't I run my company the way I want to run my company everyone agree with me I have a right to do anything I want I got to pay the law, I got to pay minimum wage what's the problem Xander, you got a problem with that it's a good idea and I think a strong workforce that should have a say because ultimately they are providing quite a the ones doing the work they're benefiting company by and hard and while they might not be the founders I think that they're what ultimately moves business forward and I think they should have say and partially how it's run in its affairs what is the function of union anyone know much about unions no we don't know much about unions but can you tell us they can stand as an intermediary between corporations and the workers to help negotiate better wages or working additions or things like that for the workers by leveraging strikes essentially yeah okay the workers need unions Jay I think it's important for unions especially if there are employees that like can't be heard by the larger corporation and if they're getting like underpaid or understaffed and overworked and if they think it's like that big of a problem and then they should start a union to get their ideas out okay Samantha you have thoughts on this hold up Michael a little bit closer to the discernment yes I do I agree with Jay and everything that they said but I also and include in addition I believe that it's important for them to be able to tell what's happening to them and if they're not getting enough pay if they're not getting paid to leave it's important that they are able to express their feelings and so that they can continue to do work that they can continue to provide for their families it's not clear that they're not getting paid or they're getting paid less I'm sorry your name is Hannah what do you think about what Kenan said yeah I mean I agree with what everyone's saying I think like at a certain point it's important that companies can you know like decide how they run it but when it crosses the line of like violating human rights that's the main issue and I think that's what unions can help with like making sure that workers are being paid properly and treated well so okay good um okay Kenan good good I say and be happy to know that we intend to bring Mr. Schultz up before our committee some questions um okay uh next essay is on a painful subject um I mean really it's it's and we experienced a little bit I guess just in this last week in Vermont thank god it was a hoax but nonetheless and that is gun violence um no I'm sorry before we we are on to veterans issues I'm sorry and um that's uh Jacob uh and Tonovitch from uh BFA Fairfax uh Jacob Munch tell us about veterans issues my grandpa Robert and Tonovitch he was drafted into the Korean War he was forced to serve this country against his will uh at the current moment he's he's reaching his end of life and when I wrote this essay they were estimating he did not have much time maybe even a week left and we were trying to get hospice for him we'd got doctors to approve it and since he served he is entitled to hospice through the VA and um private hospice could be there in 24 hours at 8890 my grandparents aren't able to afford that and he is we tried to get it through the VA and never showed up after a month they finally showed up at the bed so they can roll him out when he dies and then they left and I think it is appalling that not enough money is allocated to community care to handle this situation in addition to this I also wrote about veterans that are homeless and how very large like it is irresponsible that 20% of the homeless population is veterans whereas they make up only about 4% of the total population and why is this the case and for as much money as we spend into the military more money needs to be spent into the VA on helping all these people it makes absolutely no sense and based on the information I was finding more money is spent on making records from paper to digital than money spent on community care which I think is irresponsible based on the state my grandfather is in and all the people who have served and why are these people being left on the streets or like my grandfather who is not receiving the care he needs after being forced to serve in the military well as the former chairman of the veterans committee you've raised a whole lot of issues a whole lot of very important issues um Jacob says that people who put their lives on the line are entitled to certain basic rights is he right Lila? I agree with him and I think he is right in that especially when you're forced into it and maybe this wasn't your choice if you are lucky enough after going through war seeing things and having a lot of trauma I think even just basic human rights they're definitely entitled to you and I agree that um it not being accessible by a lot of people is wrong and needs to be changed Good. I have a discussion on this issue what do we owe people you know we use the phraseology the ultimate sacrifice but you know if you're in the Vermont National Guard even tomorrow it is conceivable you can be called up sent to a hotspot I went to years ago more funerals than I believe that I would in this state of young people who died in Iraq what are folks entitled to who are put in that position discussion hold that mic close to you so I would say definitely um I agree with what he's saying because talk into that mic a little bit I'm sorry yeah if people are especially forced to go into this kind of thing war is very traumatic and it needs to be taken very seriously that especially like I said if you are being forced into it you are entitled to those rights afterwards it is a violation because if you're not being treated fairly after you've already had to go through so many like things like the amount of hurdles you had to go over the amount of mental stress that people go through afterwards definitely that alone plus many other reasons proves that you should be taken better care of because of what you've got through I'm glad Jacob wrote his piece I think sometimes we don't fully appreciate what veterans especially those who have been in war-like situations go through I remember years ago we did a town meeting with veterans and we were in Northfield and there was a guy who was maybe around that table in this larger and the guy said that he still this is a guy who had fought I think in Korea actually and he's an older guy and he said he still wakes up with horrible nightmares about his experience so it's very hard to put yourself in the place of somebody who has seen the guy next to you get killed or have to kill somebody or seen the horrors of war and there are a lot of people and I should tell you Jacob the VA has made significant improvements in recent years you point out a problem but I can tell you that it has come a long way and in my generation people my age went through the Vietnam war and when those guys came back they were treated terribly we've significantly improved the situation but obviously you indicate problems remain do you want to comment on that Jacob? I know the president addressed a lot of that during the State of the Union on Tuesday I feel that he was a lot more like look at all the changes we've made and I feel I feel like he left out a lot of the changes that still need to be made but the other issue that I didn't even write about here because of word count but suicide is another major thing he said it changed from 25 to 17 and that should 17 per day is still way too high that should be down to zero well it should be but that raises a broader issue because it's not just veterans in this country who commit suicide and that raises an issue I think we're going to discuss in a moment and mental illness in America what Jacob touches on though and let me take it a step further Jacob's focus is on veterans people who make a particular contribution and very special contribution to our society but let me take the step let me go a little bit broader if I might and go into an area where there's just a hot debate and really is the philosophical issue that divides government you talk about polarization different points of view this is the issue and that is what is the responsibility of government so Jacob's point is that if people actually put their life on the line they're entitled to certain benefits and generally speaking there is widespread agreement with that but let me say alright go beyond veterans for a moment if you're a child born in America Detroit, Michigan and your mom makes 12 bucks an hour what are you entitled to are you entitled to education are you entitled to nutrition are you entitled to health care are you entitled to housing or if you live in Fairfax, Vermont are you entitled to health care is they right is it just veterans who should get certain benefits who wants to jump in on that one Alexander well I think that the government's ultimate purpose is I think to look out for the well-being of the people and I think to keep them safe with services that are needed and I think that I mean can you just give me a moment just think about it alright think about it for a second alright let me rephrase the question I just wrote a book by the way which deals with this issue 1937 a long long time ago President Franklin Donald Roosevelt any of you heard of President Roosevelt gave a speech they did union speech and essentially what he said is that hey in America we have a constitution guarantees you the right to vote right to dissent the right to pick it freedom of religion all that stuff is great but doesn't guarantee you economic rights doesn't guarantee you the right to a decent paying job doesn't guarantee you the right to education doesn't guarantee you the right to health care now Roosevelt was a strong progressive conservatives would say yeah why should government guarantee you the right why should I guarantee you the right to education or to health care earn it go out make a living get it good luck to you why does the government should the government be responsible making sure you have a decent paying job so what if you're in bad wages that's your problem get a better job what's the possibility for your life what's the answer well I would say that I think if the government doesn't provide things like health care education we're going to continue to see the poverty rates and homelessness rates be really disproportionate and they might they're probably going to increase because families are going to be without important rights so I think it doesn't nothing will change if the government doesn't give more rights for the discussion and again this is a basic point I have friends who are honest sincere people and they say you know what I work really hard I work hard I work 15 hours a day I made a living and I took care of my family why do you want the government to guarantee you health care what's the answer thoughts yeah I think in the US what we see in terms of prices is just absurd compared to other countries I mean a trip to the hospital can be in the tens of thousands of dollars and college is 50,000 plus per year and then add in pre-k and child care because you have to go to work so I think this country is so so expensive that there is kind of I think two layers or two in my mind answers that make sense which is the first to cut costs and then the second is to for the government to pay for this for and I think then in the second option there are two ways to proceed which is like certain people can get these things subsidized by the government but then if you're like a billionaire or a billionaire then why should the government pay for you you can obviously pay for yourself it's a broad issue and already we're falling way behind but I would simply tell you I mentioned that I met with this minister from Finland in most major countries on earth for example if you got sick and ended up in the hospital in Canada how much does it cost you when you got out anywhere now free how's that in Canada through taxes okay they pay for health care the same way your schools have paid for it's paid through taxation and they believe that everybody whether you're rich or poor should get the same health care and you end up in the hospital you leave there is no charge in most countries around the world they are a little bit different but basically that is the theory in this country as Joshua mentioned you can come out of the hospital $50,000 in debt half a million people go bankrupt in America because of medically related debt alright my point is in terms of health care how much does college cost in Germany you mentioned $50,000 a year in the United States anyone know what it costs in Germany no find out where's the cost in Finland Sweden virtually free is that a good investment for the government to make why why should I pay taxes to send you to college I think education is really important because it gives you such an advantage once you enter the work force and like the foundation of getting a good paying job that you can use to support yourself these days is your education so I think cutting the cost of college for like drastically would help people be able to provide for themselves through adulthood because it gives you so much of an advantage I wish we had two hours to talk about this this is Jacob raised the issue of veterans and he's right in my view but it goes beyond veterans and it is the philosophical divide in this country what is the responsibility of government Elena makes the point that if all of our people have a good education in the long run the country is better off which I believe others disagree and say fine you want to go get a good education great go out and earn a living save up some money and get an education so that's a divide it's the two sides to the story but it's a it is the philosophical divide you guys got to think it through to find out you know where you sit on that spectrum alright we're already falling behind let's get to Andrew Barrett from Oxbow high schools of sophomore wrote on mental health Andrew so I wrote on mental health for a few reasons I took a personal approach a lot of people my family struggled with mental illness whether we admitted or not Andrew you raised the volume there on that machine does it go up at all or speak closer to it so I wrote on mental health for a few reasons I took a personal approach because a lot of people in my family struggle with it whether we admitted or not I think it's a really important aspect of your life mental good mental state is important for your workplace your happiness how you treat others others around you you form a positive environment and people want to be around you and then you know the deeper thing is just suicide right recently a close friend of mine's dad suicided I think it's the correct terminology and in America there's not like there's no funding for getting treatment it's really expensive like the healthcare part and we're so advanced that it's like why is it a problem for people to be struggling and have a the society has a stigmatism on mental illness there's it's perceived as a weakness in most places in America and men especially young men too yeah so I just talked about the problems and significance of mental health and why it's so important for people to have available treatment and a good society to just be accepted in right okay excellent look Andrew thank you very much Andrew for your essay and your remarks um I mean just so you all know the facts that we have a major mental health crisis in America no one doubts that the crisis has been significantly exacerbated by Covid which has led to people being much more isolated than they previously were so you had kids not going to school you guys you know a unique position your education uniquely in modern American history was interrupted by Covid little kids who are even impacted maybe more your grandparents were impacted they are particularly vulnerable to Covid it has had a very profound impact on the country no one denies that we have a major crisis uh what I want to say is and there's also no debate that in Vermont does a little bit better than other states but not very well we do not have anywhere near enough mental health personnel whether it's psychologists child psychologists psychiatrists counselors we don't have that everyone in Andrew's point is absolutely right and that's something by the way Andrew we are working on we have put many many many billions of dollars into improved healthcare we have a long way to go but here's something I want to raise above and beyond the need for more counselors more mental health practitioners psychiatrists on down what else do we need to do why do you think there is so much mental illness in the country today and what has Covid done to that it's a hard question I know I want to jump in Jacob do you want to take a shot I feel like it's not only Covid but I also think it's the polarization and the media like the two essays that one I feel like those also play in a factor of people being pushed to extremes and people seeing the news and getting really emotionally riled up by it and then getting isolated at home no one to talk it out with no one who they might find supportive it's the people on the Internet which they can easily get in fights because there's everyone out there and people again on the Internet they will road responsibility and it gets very heated and it can cause people to have even more problems that and I feel like all these things all added together have severely created a lot more problems do you feel your generation is under a lot of stress maybe more than your parents how so Hannah in the news we're hearing about like climate change and all of the gun control things with like school shootings and everything and I think a lot of the pressures put on to our generation to have to make all these changes and I think we're still figuring out how to do that and we're just feeling a lot of pressure and that we're going to deal with the consequences of all these issues voices wasn't talked very much live a jump in grab the mic is your generation under more pressure than your parents perhaps I think part of what puts us under so much pressure is that we don't just have the problems of now we have the problems of past which for our parents generation was not as it wasn't the past the past few years with like the pandemic or the war that's going on overseas that everybody's hearing about everybody's talking about they didn't have the current problems as much they just they had their problems and over time it just keeps building up and building up and so few people are actually like acting on and like fixing problems that they just keep piling up and so the newer generations have so much so much so many so much to deal with right I think it's you know when we talk about stress and mental illness I think I was at Essex High School I don't know do we have anybody from Essex I don't think so and I spoke to the students there one young lady said we were talking about mental illness and stuff and she said you know we got to deal with climate change and whether the planet is going to be here for us and we got to deal about getting into college and whether we got the money to do that we got to deal with our biology classes tomorrow but it is in this gun violence thing you know I got to tell you when I was a kid and I always and sometimes I actually get criticized for it because I don't talk about the issue as much as I might because it's too horrible and painful to be even thinking about what some lunatic is going to do but that's something that you guys are all aware of right and just what last week did you all go to lockdowns or something because some moron sent out something that's something you know older generations never ever thought about so add all that together tell me about it what does it mean in terms of stress yeah Liam I think that it's an important point that was made that we like with the internet our generation is so just constantly exposed to everything that's going on in the world whether it affects us or not but it will mentally affect you whether you are aware of it or not I think that especially with COVID everyone was just intaking all this like the world is dying kind of thing and then added on to like the disconnectedness that we gain from not seeing anyone basically for a while um do your generation spend too much time I'm going to be dramatic here with this thing here do you spend too much time with it rather than being with your friends is that an issue Ella is that an issue do you spend too much time on your machines your devices or whatever you call me personally I know that I do spend lots of time on social media and things like that and I know that that has also directly impacted my life and a lot of people close to me um is my understanding that social media is everywhere and we generally cannot get rid of it it's too big right now to stop it so we just have to find ways to get around it and survive with what is surprising all right that's again this is a discussion that we can have for a bunch of hours what we're falling even further behind um all right let's move on um um but Andrew thanks very much for that important essay uh Alexander uh califano is a junior at crassery academy uh um Alexander what you're right about hi um my essay was about the cases pending in the supreme court uh involving affirmative action and um it's very likely that they will ban it and um I think that in response I think congress should pass a bill that um allows um colleges to continue their efforts to um admit students from um historically disadvantaged and economically disadvantaged groups and because I think that school and in college I think it's not just about going to class it's not just about taking tests it's not just about maintaining those grades it's about learning to become a responsible citizen and I think part of that is being able to interact with people who are different than you and do come from diverse backgrounds and I think if our campuses do not reflect the diversity that our nation of our nation then I think it's going to be really hard to um have those skills and I think to be that responsible person well Alexander made in his essay made a any repeated it here strong point that it's you're arguing that it's not just for the individual who might benefit but that everybody benefits by the diversity of the experience thoughts what's the argument against affirmative action I think people argue that it like um well it'll instill those views onto current students but I don't think that's the case just because it's important to know what happened in the past and like how we can fix that and also it's important that we don't lose that history well we're stretching a little bit here but right now one of the issues that's out there and I'm not going to get too political here but there are some who think that school curriculum should not include a certain subject matter or tone it down a bit because they feel it's you know it's upsetting to young people to learn about some of the ugly aspects of American history should we protect your generation and younger people from ugly aspects of American history Samantha I think in learning the mistakes that have been made in our history is very important to not repeat them and I think taking away trying to hide parts of what we can learn in our education is damaging and it just makes it easier for mistakes to be repeated in the future good so if you study slavery if you study what has happened to what the early settlers did to Native Americans you got a Latino history you're going to tell us about in a bit uh should we be studying those issues or are they too upsetting building off of what Samantha said I think it's necessary for us to study them because we can try to run and hide from our history but no matter what we do it's still going to be there and it's important for us to not erase the negative parts of our history and try to glorify our country when those were mistakes that we made because as Sam said it will make it easier for us to repeat those same mistakes and cause a lot more pain and hurt and destruction to our citizens good alright so the debate is I happen to agree you guys have been saying uh and it is no one is or should be proud of certain aspects of our history and their aspects of American history that everybody should be extremely proud of but like every country no country that doesn't have its ugly aspects but I think in the end of the day uh understanding what happened understanding history learning from that history uh makes us a stronger people okay we're going to move on uh next essay is by Leah from Woodstock High School Leah hi I'm Leah so I wrote about climate change and specifically it's the effects of America's system of industrial agriculture driven by federal farm subsidies and how that's affected climate change basically I focused on federal farm subsidies because basically there's subsidies on crops such as like corn grain cotton other crops like that and the subsidies have supported a system that is basically just specialized farming these farms that mass produce one type of crop over and over again and effectively that destroys the health of the soil over tilling all of these I mean we saw it with the dust bowl and we've known that this has been happening for a long time and yet we still really haven't done anything about it basically the destruction of soil contributes to climate change because it destroys the ability of plants to effectively sequester carbon in the soil so instead of storing carbon in the soil it doesn't and so what I am proposing is that we're re-evaluating subsidies and instead of supporting this monoculture that's very detrimental to support a change to regenerative agriculture which is like cover cropping rotational grazing other things like that because it'll help mitigate climate change and also make economic sense for small farmers because currently the subsidies federal governments giving out well 12 to 13% of the Forbes 400 richest Americans have received millions in farm subsidies and so try billions so yeah I think it'll help small farmers in Vermont especially too because I know a lot of small farmers already use many regenerative techniques so yeah like every subject that you guys raise it touches on a million issues Lee is talking about climate change talking about agriculture we've been throwing whether or not family farms are going to survive for it alright what's climate change agriculture what's on your mind any of you guys grew up on a farm did you grow up on a farm I did not grow up on a farm okay I'm not saying no there was a time and as you all know and you know it's interesting we're in this building right now this beautiful building at the end of World War II I think maybe I'm wrong on this there's something like 40,000 farms in Vermont the odds are that all of you would have been on farms tiny little farms separated from each other by bad roads and a lot of the business that was done in this room you know had to do with agriculture and roads and so forth but that world has changed we're down to like 700 600-700 dairy farms left alright thoughts on climate let's just deal with climate um Liza you want to say word on climate do you agree with what Leah was saying and that solutions for climate are it's kind of complex in that we've been doing things one way for so long that shifting can throw a lot of things out of line but I don't think I think if we don't strive to make solutions we're really going to suffer from it our planet is increasingly going different than it was in the past and these dramatic shifts in climate affect us so I think it's important for us to take steps to preserve our planet Jay what do you think I also agree with Leah and Lila and I think it's important to do regenerative agriculture because it's a solution to climate change that is very achievable even though it may be expensive it's also achievable and it's it's also one of the only solutions that's like out there that seems to be it will make a difference so yeah good okay well Leah thanks very much for writing on that very important subject okay the next essay comes from Ella Matay who is a freshman at Northfield Middle and high school okay so I wrote my essay about food insecurity I feel that this is a very like urgent matter because many people are facing the facts that they do not have enough food because of their area it is either food deserts or it's too expensive for them to buy because they don't make enough money or because there are so many more places like there are so many food deserts out there now that it's becoming more expensive to transport food to different places which like rises the cost of the food in the supermarkets or just makes it way less accessible for people and that makes it harder for children to get their food which is what we need these children are the future of this planet and if we don't support them and get them what they need we're not going to be successful and as society we have found that we have found many ways to survive and thrive through many different things and I think we could get over this it's just that many people would argue it's too expensive because it would cost around 34 billion dollars each year until around 2030 but I think that is very much worth it because we all want to succeed and have happy lives and continue to thrive as a country or as like the human race we need to be able to have our basic needs met and to understand that if we are all not getting what we need we are not going to succeed and people are going to be crushed by that okay well Ella this is a dozen different issues really um talks about nutrition talks about food deserts now when we talk about food deserts it's interesting some years ago uh my chief of staff here was and I were in Detroit right Katie and we were early to an event so we drove around I don't know that I had been to Detroit before so I just wanted to see Detroit we got into the car and we drove around and we kept looking and kept looking we could not see a grocery store could not find a grocery store in a very large city what we saw in every corner was what you call what do you call them what? 7-Eleven type things that may be worse and uh also alcohol and potato chips and everything else could not find a grocery store so in one sense that's a food desert so people if you don't have a car I don't know how you get the decent food there but also in a rural state like ours you got a food desert too don't you what does that mean where would a food desert be in Vermont you guys know if you're in a small town right you necessarily have access to good quality food you might have to go into some of you have to get into a car and go a few miles before you get the groceries that you need and if it's snowing it's a bit of a problem so good quality food is not necessarily accessible and then the broader issue is nutrition do you eat as kids did you grow up eating the quality food maybe that you should be eating are Americans eating the quality food that we should be eating who wants to talk about that Alexander you got thoughts probably not but I just you know I think it kind of goes back to like the last essay almost like I think in order to do this we are also taking on like unsustainable farming to meet up with the demand so I think it's just kind of really tricky because we need to build it sustainably but to get short term gains you might also have to take losses somewhere else and the fact that it might not be very good for the environment so again like every other and I guess maybe one of the points of this morning is to tell you that every single issue that you raised can be discussed in a thousand different ways and it's a thousand ramifications so when I think about nutrition okay access to food right does everybody in America have the resources have the money to access good quality food no that's obvious if you want to go to a grocery store and get good quality organic free range whatever it may be it's a lot more expensive than junk food right alright can everybody afford that good quality food organic food no can't do that what is the responsibility of some of the larger food companies what are they producing for kids are they producing high quality food necessarily when you see ads on TV yeah Joshua what are they producing I think in our country there's been like too much of a focus on just making money and you can also see this not only in food but like fast fashion too and like clothing companies making clothes that cost the least amount of money possible but then they're not as good as they used to be so I think there's companies especially are just placing too much importance on their profits and not what they should be doing what kind of products alright what about sugar a lot of sugar in food sugar good for you I was in an elementary school recently and the teacher was doing a very nice job debating whether or not the kids should have chocolate milk in their menu the argument doesn't have too much sugar does it not and so forth but alright so most sugar in like cheap foods or junk foods just corn syrup I read a book I think it was omnivorous dilemma and it talked about just the problem with corn syrup because it's so cheap to buy and process and corn is cheap to buy and then there's so much you can do with corn so corn and everything it's really unhealthy because it's too much grain for your body so that was one of the things good very good point so a lot of that has to do with politics getting back to your point alright so if I am an agribusiness guy and I can produce food cheap and I can get money from the government to produce it maybe the quality of it is not particularly healthy so alright so it's a big issue and Ella thanks very much for raising it next essay comes from Lila McMillan who is a freshman at South Brown Lincoln High School Lila um I wrote about the hold that mic a little bit oh no you got it that's good okay the general like understanding around students mental health and like the accessibility that students have and how how like things around them can influence them to not get what they need and how that can lead into like further problems with like things like gun violence because if people can't get what they need because they choose not to or cannot because of what they might have heard from it or then they're going to have problems in the future with that I think so are you arguing that if people are unable to be recognized for who they are bad things might happen is that your point if people and I think that a lot of it is people don't understand what it would be like to have like a mental illness or disability so things like bullying it can be it can be worsened by the fact that they just don't know what it's like thoughts? do we show enough respect for people who may be not normal but not like everybody else I don't think we do I think we need to end a lot of stigma because there is a lot of stigma around mental health and neurodivergence and stuff that is written about in this essay and I think the biggest way to do that is to just raise awareness and like hold discussion so that this becomes something that's normal because it shouldn't be anything that's not I think a lot of the time to people with disabilities and people who struggle with these different things are isolated from their communities I've seen a lot of times people who just don't really want to like interact with people who they might not understand and so I think it's really important to put more emphasis on integrating kind of communities and so people understand that people with disabilities may be mental disorders are really not all that different from them I agree with what people have been saying a lot of people don't understand or don't have the knowledge of what it's like to have a disability and then we are not doing enough work to make sure people get educated and can interact with people and be around people that have different experiences you know there was legislation that was passed I don't know how many years ago some decades ago to essentially prevent discrimination against people with disabilities and one of the benefits turns out to be it was a point who made it, somebody made I think we talked about affirmative action Alexander made the point, turns out to be a different point than one would have thought in that kids now who have people in their classrooms for example any of you have kids in your schools with Down syndrome for example you know what Down syndrome is or other types of severe disabilities what has happened is that it benefits not only the person who is dealing with that to be around other people but other people become more tolerant and sympathetic and we've seen some really beautiful instances around Vermont and I'm sure the country where students are so very protective and generous to kids who have particular problems it brings out the best in many ways I'll tell you a brief story and I can't remember the guy's name I was trying to think of it, maybe one of you know it in England during World War II there was a guy who apparently he had compulsive disorder what is it? OCD? yeah obsessive compulsive disorder and among other manifestations of his disorder he was a genius in terms of cracking codes anyone with a turn? that's right is that a turn? so this guy who was apparently not very personable people didn't particularly like him they put him in a room and he helped crack the German code where they were you know communicating all over the world and helped win World War II because his particular disability turned out to be a genius in doing things that what else could do that was his weakness and strength he helped win World War II so I think the point about tolerance of people who may be different than you or I and we're all different from each other is something that a healthy society needs to do so Lila thanks very much for that our next essay is from Elena Rogers a junior at BFA in Fefex yeah so I wrote my essay about the growing gun violence epidemic which I think all of us can agree is a very severe and pressing issue people are losing their lives every single day to gun violence and there are ways and like steps the government can take to prevent this and reduce this crisis that aren't being taken the two I proposed and I acknowledge that there is more but the two I talked about in my essay was banning assault rifles and strengthening background checks on all firearms because though we do have those there are loopholes that people are using to purchase firearms illegally okay and it turns out that Hannah Smiley from Milton High School Softmoor also wrote on gun violence so why don't we combine the two Hannah yeah so I also wrote my essay about gun violence and I kind of focused on some of the stories of school shooting survivors specifically one from in the Sandy Hook shooting and she just kind of talked about the anxiety that she felt and I think after the Columbine shooting which I think was in 1999 and then Sandy Hook which was a little bit more recent the government and everyone like in the media was talking about how we need to make a change yeah I feel like not enough has changed because still there's shootings and like last week I think on Wednesday there was like the whole shooting threats in Vermont and I was at one of the schools that had to lock down and obviously nothing really became of it because it was misinformation being spread but I kind of dealt with some of that same anxiety that other survivors have talked about so I think it's just important to protect everyone especially kids in shootings and gun violence and all of that okay um Lainer and Hannah excuse me touching on an issue that's on everybody's minds and again we saw it surface in Vermont just this last week um there are many aspects to the issue we'll want to talk about the other point of view who is opposed to what you guys would like to see and why um but I also want to talk about and I have had you know sometimes when you're a senator you have a lot of pleasant and fun things to do like what we're doing today sometimes you have unpleasant things to do like talking to you know parents who lost their kids to this gun violence and that's not a very pleasant thing to do um but I want to touch on something you know we went through just this last week this horrible business what is it like to be involved when you're a teacher I don't know how you do it in the school the principal says we're locking down the school then maybe a shooter or something like that what's going on in the school who wants to talk about that a little bit Hannah or Elena you want to say a word about that were you guys your schools involved okay talk about that I just want to clarify are you asking about talk a little bit closer into the mic I just wanted to clarify are you asking about specific procedures or like what it just feels like what does it feel like you're a kid there what's going on in your mind well honestly it's kind of terrifying like even though last week turned out to be fake the threat is still there it's really always still there over the years my school at least has had to crack down on its lockdown procedures because we had another lockdown many years back and our procedures were not adequate um always having that threat in the back of your mind like you never know when something's going to happen these days you just don't feel secure and safe and I feel that schools should be a place where we're secure because if we're not it affects our education and our ability to learn Hannah yeah I agree with that and I think like when they're announcing the lockdown we don't really get any information about what that means like at least at my school they just said lockdown so that could really mean anything and we had a classroom for probably 45 minutes to an hour without really knowing and all people were I could hear people like saying kind of sharing some of the things that they were hearing like on social media which was that there was like people dead in Montpelier High School really they were saying that there was a lot of things on social media that people were dead or injured at a lot of different schools and that was kind of going around the classroom so we didn't that was on social media that was when they were calling in they were saying like they were calling into the dispatch offices saying that there was already people injured and that there was active shooters in the buildings and they had to verify that that wasn't happening was that with those lies being perpetrated by the same people you think who are yeah it was by like that caller that I think ended up being like an international number or something which kind of goes back to the misinformation thing so kids sitting in classrooms will learn it but with perceiving that other class yeah Andrew do you want to say a word on that no okay anybody want to add to that yes I know that at our school when we were getting this information like I saw a news article about how Montpelier was on lockdown I have a friend there who told me that she was in lockdown when we got the announcement I was in a class some kids were told that they couldn't go to the bathroom they had to go into the classroom because we were about to go on lockdown we didn't actually we got an announcement saying that we were stuck in school but other classrooms also had the announcement that they were on full lockdown like barricaded the room so it was very uneven in how our school dealt with the situation which was also very upsetting to me well look you know we talked a moment about the stress that your generation is on that's horrible I mean I can't there's no other word to describe it I think who just said in Alexandria somebody just said no it was Elena traditionally schools are supposed to be safe places you know in my generation that was the case I don't think any older generation would ever imagine you know you send your kids to the school what's the problem horrible horrible sick things that we have seen in recent years impacts us all I wish I had a magical I mean you know all of you know school shootings are they're very much publicized they're relatively rare they happen so I don't want you to think that they happen every day in every school in America they don't you know you know you know you know you know it is just one of those things that we are dealing with now it has to do with social media right it has to do with guns it has to do a lot of the issues mental health I can't imagine the state of mental health of somebody who would do something like that can you imagine somebody what kind of person would want to frighten terrorize young people apparently this goes on all over the country right so alright so that's that I wish I had a happy ending to that story but I don't that's it Joshua Stearns is at Hanover High School is near Norwich and Joshua wrote on gerrymandering yeah first I just want to extend a thanks to you senator for meeting with us today I think every issue ranging from like abortion rights to gun rights depends on who we elect and even more importantly how those people are elected gerrymandering has been a part of our political fabric for more than two centuries and I think it's important to note that it's a bipartisan issue you can look at the 2020 redistricting to see this for example you can look at Illinois and Florida but experts believe that this particularly impacts democrats because gerrymandering is particularly pervasive in southern states which disenfranchises voters of color and voters of color are one of the democrats most important voting blocks I don't think the solution to this though is nonpartisan redistricting commission simply because in this country we use single member districts so I think there will always be an issue while using single member districts where whoever doesn't vote for the winning candidate their votes are essentially null and void and they go pretty much unrepresented and then there's the added issue of over the past century our country having an explosion of population so districts are becoming increasingly more difficult to truly represent so I think the solution to this is like many other democracies around the world to transition to a proportionally representative multi-member district system the type of system where you have to form coalition governments to govern to ensure that all Americans can have fair and true representation because I think that's the most important thing in a democracy OK Joshua raises like everybody else here has raised a very very important issue because ultimately a lot of what happens happens at statewide levels and how people are elected the nature of the political system impacts what happens gerrymandering is an old practice in America named after a guy named Jerry I think he was G-E-R-R-Y right went from New Jersey to someplace is that where he came from Massachusetts OK I think he was the most important thing in the system so that you benefit that's what it's about it's been done throughout history done by Republicans Democrats done more extremely if you like by Republicans recently Democrats have kind of responded in kind what I want to do if you'll allow me Joshua because you've touched on a very important problem and she reminds me that in her state actually Democrats gain more votes for members in the state legislature and yet they are wildly underrepresented in terms of members in the legislature because of gerrymandering significantly but what are the problems that we have with our political system gerrymandering is a very important problem and Vermont we don't quite have that problem because we've got one Congress but one of the political in terms of the political system itself what are some of the other problems that we face that are structurally problematic I think lobbying has started to become a pretty big issue I think it provides an easy avenue for wealthy individuals as well as wealthy corporations to directly influence policy do you know how many lobbyists from the pharmaceutical industry are in Washington DC no 1700 there are 435 members of the House 100 members of the senate so for 535 members of Congress there are 17 100 often very well paid lobbyists to make sure that you pay the highest prices in the world for prescription drugs that's one issue what are the other issues even deeper than that if you want to run for office what do you need you need money how much money do you need if you want to run for the senate I can't even remember from the mind of George you just won re-election I cannot mention how much money was spent there probably $800 million on his campaign and Georgia is not a particularly big state if you want to run in California and maybe spend hundreds of millions of dollars what do you think is that conducive to democracy yep I mean if you look at like Canada for example they have the rule where you can only campaign for like what is it a month a week but in this country we have decided to you can just campaign for however long you want so that kind of and with our like the genie coefficient in our country is so high because of we just have such a high inequality it kind of just is conducive to whoever has the most money and who then they can just run and they'll probably get it because they have the money what is a super PAC anyone know what a super PAC is it's a political action committee they don't work directly with the candidate but they they produce like media and advertisements on his behalf how much money could a billionaire put into that I don't know but I'm assuming like again a lot an unlimited amount of money so if you were a billionaire many of them, many hundreds and you didn't like the senator from Vermont or the senator from California they got your checkbook write a check for 50 million you give it to some consultant who starts a PAC and you can see a lot of TV ads on him point being Joshua raised the issue of lobbying which is very important it's not the only issue lobbying is an issue probably the issue of money in politics is the biggest issue because you're looking at a situation where big money can buy elections and often doesn't it's an issue that we should continue to be thinking about okay Lila Lila I'm going to destroy your last name is it Trigal Trigal? oh it's not bad and Lila is a freshman at Burlington High School I wrote about protecting LGBTQ youth in schools and how Vermont is a very progressive state when it comes to LGBTQ youth it's definitely not like this everywhere but I still see hateful stickers in my neighborhood near my school and there's still discrimination we need to address and connecting to other issues we've talked about school is really supposed to be a safe space it's where you spend the majority of your childhood and it's where you learn all the skills you use in the future when you're an adult and so bullying can really lead to other problems like mental health which can then lead to suicide and homelessness and so and because LGBTQ youth experience increased numbers of bullying they're really over representative in these homelessness and suicidal numbers and I have a lot of friends and people in my life that identify as LGBTQ and just thinking that they are at an increased risk for these is really upsetting and I think we need to change this so I proposed a bill that would not only prohibit but really prevent bullying based on the protected categories like gender identity and sexual orientation because I think having programs in schools and teaching these important lessons beforehand can really help when these kids grow up even if you don't identify as LGBTQ growing up with these protective programs can teach you a lot of valuable lessons so I think it can decrease discrimination in the future okay discussion by the right wrong what do we think? August what do you think? LGBTQ youth are definitely more at risk and they should definitely be protected because I mean like at my school I have seen the same issue of bullying essentially of LGBTQ people people who identify as LGBTQ and I yeah more stuff needs to be done why have you touched on this a little bit in a different way what do you think? Grab that mic now well I agree that the bullying poses a bigger threat for everybody because I mean there's there's still people they might perceive the world differently from others but that shouldn't make them a target that shouldn't that shouldn't paint them in red and have like let me ask you a question why would why would one bully somebody because their sexual orientation might be different than somebody do you think Alexander? I think just a stigma and probably just also just not having ever interacted with someone who identifies as LGBTQ I think it's very similar to I think what I said about the front of action is how it's important that you need to be surrounded by people who are different than you so you can understand them and you don't have that discrimination that have been around forever because then they're disproven once you actually can experience and meet someone why would somebody be bullied it's not just LGBT community I think that people experience bullying for because they're not perceived as normal as you said earlier I think like you can look at Florida for example with like their don't say gay bill last year the reason that's so dangerous is because that's the most important time to teach about diversity and I think this extends also into issues like ethnicity, race and gender as well I think you have to as people were saying teach about diversity at a young age because that's really when it's ingrained in you and it's really just a cultural issue and it's like how do you change this culture that's been with us for thousands of years it's not easy but I mean it's possible thank you very much last but certainly not least is Samantha Urbina I finally got her name right okay who's a junior at BFA in Fairfax Samantha I wrote about an issue that I started really considering when I got into high school Samantha put that that to talk right into the mic this issue I always kept in the back of my mind when I was learning about history especially in ninth grade when we went over world history I noticed that we never went over any history of Latin American countries when we did US history there was no mention of contributions of Latinos and Hispanics throughout our history and it made me feel invisible and I've always kind of felt that way and I think that that's a really big problem especially because according to the 2020 census we are close to 19% of the United States population being Latino or Hispanic or having background of being Hispanic or Latino and because Latinos are the second largest ethnic group now it's very important that we are that everyone is educated and through education it will change the minds of people and hopefully in the future there will be less discrimination than what we already are dealing with and it's just it's very important to me that this changes well Samantha raises a very important issue I think she is absolutely right Latinos in what the United States are in a growing population and in Vermont we don't have a large Latino population but if you go to California if you go to Arizona if you go to Nevada if you go to New Mexico but in many parts of the country you do have very large Latino populations Samantha are you much familiar with Latino history yes I'm second generation Mexican-American on both my parents' sides where did your family come from my mother's side is from Guadalajara and then my dad's side is from Michoacan I also have family from Monterey my parents both grew up in Dallas, Texas where it was a very large population of Latinos and then I never really had that kind of cultural immersion and so it's always been a little hard to realize and so I hope that you know the population of Latinos is growing like you said the immigration I think it's very important that in rural areas of this country that we talk about and have these difficult discussions well I'm glad you raised that I when we talk about history and I think we talked about earlier movements in this country to try to avoid painful subjects you want to say a word about what the initial set was not only in the United States but in Latin America did to the Latino population the native population at the time moved them and killed them how many? Millions Millions of people wiped out they wiped out by disease as well because the Europeans brought viruses that the native people you know smallpox I think and other illnesses that their bodies couldn't deal with but it was just almost a genocide it's a horrible thing we don't know enough about it we don't study it and of course that problem exists today we're dealing with some 10 million people in this country are undocumented and I talk to kids your age whose parents are undocumented who literally every day worry about whether or not their mom or dad is going to get deported kids who say is their mom or dad going to be there or are they going to be arrested and I'll never forget talking to a kid your age who was in a car and his father was speeding his father was undocumented driving too fast got stopped by a cop and suddenly everybody in the car is hard to stop beating because they didn't have identification the cop didn't ask for it but if the cop had that whole family well not the family the kids would have stayed and mom or dad would have been sent across the border living with that one so it's a very big issue and I'm glad you raised it all right we've gone through all of the essays and I think what I learned and I hope you learned is that every essay that you touched on A was important unto itself but touches a dozen other issues no issue is isolated from any other whether it's a veterans issue or a health issue it's an LGBT issue or whatever it may be all right why don't we take a few minutes to wrap it up any closing thoughts did you guys learn anything from this discussion what did you learn don't be shy Jacob, did you learn anything government's a complicated thing there's no thanks yeah I kind of knew that there's a lot of issues and there's a lot of different ways to address them then it comes back to what I said initially of like freedom versus control and anarchy it's finding the balance everyone has a different perspective everyone has different views and as we said in the initial question everyone has their own truth truth as a collective can be very hard thing to rule out and it's very grey area on what people want to find and working with government to find this balance and finding this balance is the purpose of government as Abraham Lincoln said a government for the people by the people of the people by the people for the people where did he say that Gettysburg address so I feel that by embracing this and trying to work to make progress find this area unbalanced find this truth collective truth and a balance of everyone's truth all the people get all the perspectives so everyone has a chance to be heard and finding this balance can be difficult with as many people as there are in this country and all the perspectives shown all the issues addressing all of them in their equal weight it can be a very difficult issue but discussions like this prompting this discussion can allow for change to be made and that is how this government functions Leo you have any final thoughts Yeah I think Jacob brought up a lot of good points I think it's incredibly important that we are able to share opinions and work towards collective change I think that in our government a lot of the time at least I've seen that everyone kind of thinks it's this kind of entity that doesn't really make any progress and I think it's very interesting kind of in our little circle here how putting together everyone's different perspectives on all these issues it's complicated but it is extremely important and I think it's a very interesting thing to learn about Okay Hello do you have any last thoughts Okay All right look I enjoyed the discussion I hope your parents and by the way parents I think you have a right to be very proud of these kids and let me also I didn't acknowledge I don't know do we have any of the teachers here who helped select the finalist that we do at least one Thank you There you go thank you Thank you that's great Any other parents want to jump up don't be shy your thoughts Any parents stand up if you could Any other parents want to say a word Other thoughts parents All right let me just conclude I think we are living in tough times that's the reality you heard here today a lot of very very serious problems but I think as has been said your diligence and your decency gives us all hope for the future of this country and obviously not just you kids all over the state young people all over the country so in the midst of all of the difficulties that we encounter every day and there are many of them you know keep going forward with a vision of how we can address those problems as difficult as they may seem and a vision for a better and brighter future so thank you all very much and parents thank you for being good parents