<body><div><img src="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?type=thumbnail_580x000&amp;url=1Bqhkp_0snRW8MK00" alt="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=1Bqhkp_0snRW8MK00" width="1200" height="899" >“I think there’s a common misperception among young people that they’re waiting to live their lives somewhere else,” said Professor Thom Klepach, who is a lecturer of Science, Technology, and Society, as well as the Waterville Ward 3 city councilor. “They’re at Colby, but it’s like this transitional time, and it’s not actually their home or something like that. I think that’s a misunderstanding of life. Because your life is going to take you all over the place.”He continued, “You’re moving around all the time. You can’t wait to live. You have to live in every place, every day. So engaging in civic life while you’re here in Waterville is a great way to kind of learn how to be an adult.”Klepach was among the city councilors present on April 24, 2024, when a group of administrators from Waterville Public Schools presented their budget for the 2024–25 school year. Over the course of the meeting, one thing became clear: the schools face many challenges, but they are rising to the occasion.Waterville Public Schools is not alone in this.According to Klepach, the City of Waterville has done a great deal of work to surmount the difficulties it faces. “I think through the partnership of a number of groups… Waterville has been very successful at articulating a plan and implementing a plan for its change here,” he said.A significant portion of Waterville’s positive trajectory is due to the people who have taken the initiative to create, implement, and revise a plan for the city’s future. In other words, people from the community are actively and meaningfully engaged in civic life.If civic life is, as Klepach asserts, an important part of every stage of life, and if civic life is integral to Waterville’s growth, then how should Colby students engage with it now? The Echo’s interview with Klepach revealed some options.First, Colby students should show up to city council meetings, especially those relevant to their interests.“It doesn’t take a lot of voices to change the direction of things,” said Klepach of city council meetings. He referenced a decision made last year about Waterville’s unhoused population as an example of a situation where attendees influenced the council’s decision: “Having just a few voices in the room who are consistently showing up, raising these concerns—it got the city to move and resulted in a positive outcome for those groups and for services for the unhoused.”Klepach recommended that students look at city council agendas when they are published on Fridays on the Waterville local government’s website to determine whether the upcoming meetings will feature topics of interest. Meetings are on Tuesdays, and it is possible to attend either through Zoom or in person.Attending is one way that Colby students can have a voice in local politics. Klepach explained how: “During the public comments section, if there’s something going on in town or a point you want to raise to the city council that’s not on the agenda, you have three minutes… to make your point.”However, it is not necessary that students come with a desire to speak. “You don’t even have to say anything,” said Klepach. “Just watching the city council meetings is the first way to get involved, just to understand what’s actually happening in your community.” Klepach also cited reading local news sources like The Morning Sentinel as important ways to stay informed about the city in which one lives.Another way for students to engage in civic life is by sitting on a local government committee.Klepach spoke specifically about the Community Resilience Committee, which he chairs. “The Resilience Committee is concerned with both the sustainability of Waterville in terms of our carbon footprint and the energy efficiency of… the city in general, but also resilience to any of the extreme effects of climate change,” Klepach said. He later said, “It would be awesome to have a student from Colby on the Resilience Committee. I would love it.”Generally, the people on Waterville local government committees are retirees. Klepach stated that incorporating young perspectives into them would be healthy and valuable. He even described the possibility of a student replacing him as the Ward 3 city councilor sometime in the future.On the opposite end of the responsibility spectrum, there are activities like one-time trash cleanups and volunteer events that are still considered civic life. These kinds of activities make engagement in civic life possible even with a busy schedule.In short, opportunities for civic engagement exist. What is perhaps most important, then, is the decision by Colby students to engage in them.~ Elias Kemp `27</div></body>

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Colby and the Civic Life

“I think there’s a common misperception among young people that they’re waiting to live their lives somewhere else,” said Professor Thom Klepach, who is a lecturer of Science, Technology, and Society, as well as the Waterville Ward 3 city councilor. “They’re at Colby, but it’s like this transitional time, and it’s not actually their home or something like that. I think that’s a misunderstanding of life. Because your life is going to take you all over the place.”

Colby and the Civic Life

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