On Tuesday March 9, 2009

Principal Matthew Rodriguez and two students, Joseph Medina and Roberto Rodriguez, headed to Springfield to speak with the state senate, on Senate Bill 1796. This Bill will implement the Task Force recommendation to create a statewide system for high school dropouts

Student Joseph Medina describes the trip…

The ride over there was a long and tiring one, but we had a good time getting to know each other and having good discussion around important issues.

When we got to Springfield we checked in to our hotel room and left immediately to the Abraham Lincoln Museum. There were so many things I never even knew about him that I found so interesting I just couldn’t believe it. The museum was cool but we couldn’t take pictures in the exhibits, Berto was mad. One interesting fact that I learned was that through the years of 1820-1860, every 3.6 minutes a slave was sold in the south. That totaled about four million men, women and children. This estimated to one in every seven people in the U.S. One of Berto’s favorite quotes by good old Abe is “As I would not be a slave, so I would not be a master. This expresses my Idea of democracy. Whatever differs from this, to extend of the difference is no democracy.” This quote made me ask the question “does this quote mean that Abraham Lincoln was against slavery?” It wasn’t completely clear.

While at the museum, we also watched two shows. One of them which was a performance called “Ghost of the Library” and a movie called “Lincoln’s Eyes” both of which are very good but all three of us recommend “Ghost of the Library”. After the show, our principal commented that the shows were very “patriotic”, that they described the U.S. as a country that “fights oppression and injustice”. Our principal asked us, “Why do you think the programs did not talk about how the U.S. has been a part of oppressing other countries?” We thought long and hard but it was a hard question for me to answer on the spot. The museum also had real cool artifacts like his stove top hat and glasses. Another interesting thing about the museum I liked was how they showed the ups and downs Lincoln went through in his life. Many people made fun of and criticized Lincoln for his looks and ideas; one of the jokes was “look at the long guy even longer”.

Then we hit the capital building that was crazy! I never knew they took things so seriously in the educational committee room the way they did when we were there. Some bills they took to consideration and others they needed more time to think about them and they put those bills in the sub committee. Both Berto and me were nervous on what they were going to say about our bill, SB1796 that we wanted them to pass. The bill stated that there needs to be more comprehensive programming to meet the needs of students that “drop-out” of larger public schools. We weren’t the only ones there. There were students from ASA and CCA alternative high schools to support the bill as well.

It took 3 hours until our bill came up and we were called up to speak. We sat in front of the committee at a small table with a microphone and they all seemed really interested in what we had to say. To represent our school, and the other alternative high schools in Chicago, Berto talked about why he thinks this bill should be passed and he gave a good speech. Below are a couple of points from his speech.

Schools like ours are strong because:

1. Respect and love that staff have for students, and that students have for each other.
2. All students are made to feel welcome and like they are a part of a family.
3. Students are not looked down upon as bad people.
4. Students are pushed to be successful.
5. Dual Enrollment programs, where students can graduate high school with college credit.
6. Social Emotional Learning programs, where all students are given mentors to work with.
7. Puerto Rican history classes that you would never see in any other school.
8. Students are challenged to transform their community for the better.

After we gave our testimonies the bill passed the education committee unanimously! When we were done with that, we took pictures with the director of the Alternative Schools Network Jack Wuest and both State Senators Kimberly Lightford and Iris Martínez who is from the Humboldt Park community. After that Jack Wuest took us out to dinner where we talked to the other students about there past school experience and what they like about their current school. After we ate, we went to the hotel were we just kicked it and talked about what we learned and how this experience impacted us.

This was a real good experience for me. This wasn’t just for me to get out of school and avoid class work but just for me to be aware and organize about what’s happening in my community. I wouldn’t want my community to move or go anywhere but Humboldt Park. I’m a very outspoken person so if I feel that something doesn’t meet my community’s standards I will stand up and say something about it. For those that don’t know me, my name is Joseph Candido Medina and I’m a Puerto Rican male born and raised in the Humboldt Park community, so as long as I’m still alive I will try to do whatever I can to make my community as strong as it needs to be. Thank you for your time to read this.