Lake Oswego's youth leaders end program with trip to Washington D.C.

Each year, the seniors on Lake Oswego’s Youth Leadership Council accompany the mayor and city councilors to Washington D.C. for the National League of Cities Congressional Conference.

In March, nine Lake Oswego and Lakeridge high school students met with their congressional representatives, asked questions, visited the Supreme Court and the Pentagon and witnessed a vote on the House floor.

“This was my second time going with the Youth Leadership Council and this time it felt much more community-oriented because we had a really big group this year. Not only did we get to do more policy-oriented things like meeting with our representatives and our senators and meeting with the Oregon delegation and connecting with youth councils from across the country, but at the same time we still got to do the touristy things in D.C. like going to the National Air and Space Museum and the National Museum of African American History,” said Nidhi Nair, one of the seniors who traveled to D.C.

The Youth Leadership Council program shows student leaders how the different parts of local government fit together. This year’s YLC worked on drafting a letter for Oregon Senate President Rob Wagner, D-Lake Oswego, advocating for a statewide ban on flavored tobacco product sales.

“The purpose of the Youth Leadership Council is to teach kids how to be good advocates for change in their communities. We do exist in this broader system, which is why we focus on local government, but we also teach about county government, state government and then this trip is an opportunity to engage at the national level and see how all of these different levels of government do work together,” said Mayor Joe Buck.

After meeting with U.S. Rep. Lori Chavez-DeRemer, R-Oregon, the students watched a vote on the House floor from the balcony above, known as “the peanut gallery.”

“Seeing the House take a vote was so cool,” said Maya Green. “I learned so many things about how government works, seeing it up close and personal.”

The students couldn’t help but comment on how much more efficient Lake Oswego and Oregon’s governments seemed.

“The Oregon state Legislature has their own problems, but we get more than like 28 bills passed a year,” said Cara Chen. “It’s really important that we concentrate on local organization and go from a bottom-up structure rather than trying to hope that the national legislation can solve everything.”