Day 4: Wrapping Things Up with Presentations and JSA Graduation (and a Little Nostalgia)

Heard briefly from Katie last night. They were scrambling on their projects. I asked for a photo and the clever child sent me a picture of nothing. Yeah. Apparently they hadn't gotten very far. I told her to make Emelia do the talking but she said Emelia was on another team. Hopefully Em had a better project - maybe something photo-worthy.

Today the running around will be kept to a minimum.

No travel to Sacramento but they will be finishing their projects and presenting to one another. I wonder if Emelia will be a speaker! She's such an introvert (so's Katie but she can bite the bullet and get by - especially if she knows her content).

UC Davis - this place is the bomb.

I love that they have to walk over to Wellman every day. In the photo above, the yellow arrow near the top is the dorm, Bixby and the dining commons is just below that. The yellow arrow in the middle is Wellman. That's near the Quad and takes them into the heart of the campus. I don't know if it was intentional, but it sure must have made it feel more like they were college students.

Let's be clear, as a liberal arts undergrad, this is the only part of campus that mattered. All my classes were either in Olson or Young - both off the Quad. Sure there are some science buildings lying around and viticulture is way up by Mrak Hall now, but as long as you had the dorms, Quad, Coffee House and the MU (where hours of All My Children and General Hospital were watched in a dark basement TV room with at least a hundred viewers watching Jenny and Greg, Jessie and Angie and Luke and Laura), you were set. That's food, sun, drama, parties and sleep. Was there more going on in college?

Oh crap, but this isn't about me!

I pick them up around 2ish. I wonder if they made some new friends!?

The agenda for today:

Time	Activity
8:00 am	Check Out – Your floor
8:30 am – 9:00 am	Breakfast – Segundo Dining Commons
9:00 am – 10:30 am	Work on Group Project – Bixby Lounge
10:30 am – 12:00 pm	Presentation of Group Projects – Wellman 106
12:00 pm – 1:00 pm	Pizza Lunch – Wellman 106
1:00 pm – 2:00 pm	Evaluations / Thank You Letters – Wellman 106
2:00 pm – 2:45 pm	Closing Session – Wellman 106

Day 3: Media Training, Starbucks, JSA Secret Rules and Sin Taxes - They ARE Junior Politicians

KNM: Kill Me Now!

I did hear from Katie last night. She was sitting in her last session getting media training. Apparently they were talking social media which nearly sent her over the edge since she gets to hear about this nearly every day from her dear mother! You'll appreciate her text.

She also said it had been a super great day and that all the kids there were scary-smart. She was working to keep up (I love it) and trying to learn as fast as they were throwing new information at her. I guess they are also doing projects so they are up late at night working.

She has forged a new relationship with some franchise called Starbucks which can only mean bad things for me (I don't think we own stock, I've never ever had even one cup of coffee). I don't think they can use their meal card there. Bummer.

Katie's also learning more about JSA. It's a pretty interesting organization but I guess there's also a dark subculture. With gambling and point-seeking. I don't know who shared this inside scoop with Katie, but she was on it, trying to figure out the rules.

At some point on Monday, they learned about Cintaxes - which kind of makes sense if you are only hearing the word - that eventually turned into Sin Taxes (as opposed to syntax which is a tax I often try to dodge). The kids were supposed to figure out their position on them and if they agreed, what then should be taxed.

A good question for you dear reader: discuss.

Today will be a juxtaposition of street and the high life and they move from "Man on the Street Interviews" (I can only hope they mean both genders) to the Governor's Conference Room which at least sounds like it is sort of posh; unless it really means the press room which suddenly sounds much less posh and more like a corral.

Yeah, the hashtag was just to
provoke her!

The day wraps with a set on polling which could be really good since polling was so interesting in the last Presidential election and dictates how so many politicians decide to get dressed in the morning.

A bit more tomorrow and then they graduate around 2pm. Will they be leadershipy? We'll see!




The agenda for today:

Time	Activity
7:45 am – 8:45 am	Breakfast – Segundo Dining Commons
9:00 am	LOAD BUSES to Sacramento
10:00 am – 11:00 am	State Capitol Building Man on the Street Interviews
11:00 am – 12:00 pm	Debrief on public interviews – Steps of Capitol Building
12:00 pm – 1:00 pm	Lunch
1:00 pm – 2:00 pm	Paula Villescaz, Legislative Aid in Office of Assembly Member Joan Buchanan – Governorʼs Conference Room
2:00 pm – 3:00 pm	John Vigna, Press Secretary to the Speaker of the Assembly – Governor's Conference Room
3:15 pm	LOAD BUSES to Davis
4:30 pm – 6:30 pm	UC Davis Dinner – Segundo Dining Commons
7:00 pm – 9:00 pm	Presentation on Polling with Ruth Bernstein from EMC Research – Wellman 106
9:00 pm – 10:00 pm	Free time/Work on Group Projects
10:00 pm	Floor Meeting
11:00 pm	Curfew

Day 2: Crime, Prisons, Budgets and PR - A Typical Day in California Politics

I didn't hear a thing from the kid last night.

That either means she was having fun or they had exhausted her and there was no life left in her fingers to text. Since I have never, ever seen her unable to text, I'm guessing it's going well.

Today they start with the Third Appellate District Court where they will likely be discussing crime and punishment. I didn't realize we have six appellate courts in California, broken out by the counties they cover and are located all over the state. The Third is in Sacramento.

First they will be with Ellen Eggers, a State Public Defender who is known for her anti-death penalty work. She has a lot of experience in working with complex cases and should be a very interesting speaker.

Then they meet Kent Scheidegger from the Criminal Justice Legal Foundation. Talk about a smart guy - he started out as a physicist and served for six years in the United States Air Force as a Nuclear Research Officer and then went back and got his law degree. The wrap the morning with a debate.

In the afternoon, they will be at the Capitol meeting with legislators - who are back today from their summer break. This is their final month in session and according to the news, they have a lot on their plate in the next four weeks. 

The kids will also get to do a budget simulation (you can do it here) which we make we want to end the day with Happy Hour but alas, they are too young. So they go back to campus to eat dinner and get some PR training with media specialists (now we're talking - this is getting interesting!).

Hopefully I'll get at least a selfie photo at some point. Bah, who knows. What a Monday!

The agenda for today:

Time	Activity
7:45 am – 8:45 am	Breakfast – Segundo Dining Commons
9:00 am	LOAD BUSES to Sacramento
10:00 am – 11:00 am	Third Appellate District Court Ellen Eggers – State Public Defender
11:00 am – 12:00 pm	Kent Scheidegger – Criminal Justice Legal Foundation
12:00 pm – 1:00 pm	JSA Debate
1:00 pm – 2:00 pm	Lunch
2:00 pm – 3:00 pm	State Capitol Building Meet with Your Legislators – Capitol Building
3:00 pm – 5:00 pm	Next 10 CA Budget Simulation with Sarah Henry – Room 112
5:00 pm	LOAD BUSES back to Davis
5:30 pm – 6:15 pm	UC Davis Dinner – Segundo Dining Commons
6:30 pm – 8:30 pm	Public Relations Training with Media Specialist Brian Green & Veronica Rodriguez – Wellman 106
8:30 pm – 10:00 pm	Free Time/Work on Group Project
10:00 pm	Floor Meeting
11:00 pm	Curfew

Something Different: Junior Statesmen California Institute on Leadership and Politics

Did I mention, that's my old dorm!?!

Katie and Emelia started a new adventure today.

This is the first time, ever, that Katie has gone on one of these adventures with a friend. Emelia is actually a neighborhood friend who lives close and is nearly the same age as Katie (her birthday is the day after Katie's) so they mesh together really nicely.

The Institute is at UC Davis, my old alma mater, and they are staying in the Bixby dorms - my old dorm! It was awesome going back to the building and watching them get all excited about setting up their temporary home. 

The dorms, built in 1962 (ironically the year I was born) look the same with a few tiny upgrades (or distractions depending on how you look at it - they really messed up how the beds fit in the rooms with the addition of new heaters in front of the windows). 

Unbeknownst to me, Katie packed dorm decorations and a fan ("In case it gets hot mom") and so she had plenty to do upon arrival. I got them there nice and early so they had plenty of time to nest.

I don't know, do they look happy?

I hope they have a terrific time. It's going to go pretty quickly; I pick them up on Wednesday afternoon. If they have a good JSA experience, they can join local clubs at their high schools and attend more events in the future. Not familiar with JSA? From their website:

     The mission of the Junior State of America and the Junior Statesmen Foundation (JSA) is to strengthen American democracy by educating and preparing high school students for life-long involvement and responsible leadership in a democratic society. 

  In the student-run Junior State and at JSA summer schools and summer institutes, participants learn statesmanship as they engage in political discourse. They cultivate democratic leadership skills, challenge one another to think critically, advocate their own opinions, develop respect for opposing views and learn to rise above self-interest to promote the public good.

Here's the day's agenda: 

Time	Activity
9:00 am – 11:30 am	Registration – Segundo Service Center
11:30 am – 12:30 pm	Opening Session - Wellman 106
12:30 pm – 2:00 pm	Lunch – Segundo Dining Commons
2:00 pm – 3:30 pm	Project Citizen Workshop – Bixby Hall Lounge
3:30 pm – 5:00 pm	Group Project Planning – Bixby Hall Lounge
5:00 pm – 7:00 pm	Dinner – Segundo Dining Commons
7:00 pm – 9:00 pm	Documentary/Discussion – Wellman 106
9:00pm - 10:00 pm	Free time / Work on Group Project
10:00 pm	Floor Meeting
11:00 pm	Curfew

Katie already decorating in her mind.

Emelia looking for the bathroom.