Great day with my boy in Frankfort

If you have never taken your children to your state capitol, I high recommend you do. It is a great learning experience for them and you.

Today, I was able to spend the day with my son in our state capitol, Frankfort. Joseph was going to be a page on in the House of Representatives for our State Rep, Addia Wuchner. After having made the visit a couple of times with my daughter Sophia, we were pretty familiar with the process.

We schedule a 10 am tour of the capitol building. It is a beautiful, grand building. We are lucky that our group was small, only four, so we had plenty of time to ask questions. The tour only last about 30 minutes but we were able to learn a good amount of information and visit the rotunda, reception room, Supreme Court, and House and Senate Chambers. We stopped in the Governor’s Office and Joseph signed the guest book.

After the tour, we headed to Rep Wuchner’s office. She was currently in a meeting so we picked up a Legislative Record for the day and started to review the bills in process. To my surprise, my name was listed in the Record. The second reason for our trip, I was receiving recognition in both chambers for being the inaugural recipient for the Beverly Nickell Raimondo Parent Leadership Award. My kids thought it was funny to be receiving an award for an award. We continued reviewing the bills making commentary on each one and it was interesting to hear his take on the issues being discussed. Keep in mind, he is only a 6th grader at Camp Ernst Middle School, but has developed a love for social studies, government and our political system. He was in his element.

We visited with Rep Wuchner quickly between two meetings. She showed him the binder which contains all of the house bills for the Health and Human Services committee which she chairs. We took a few pictures with him at her desk including one with him holding the budget and transportation bill along with a red pen like he was going to mark the bill up. The amount of paperwork our legislatures have to consume and understand is unbelievable.

Her meeting attendees were starting to arrive, so we headed down to the cafe for a quick bite before we headed back to the capitol. Joseph wanted to explore the capital some more, so we took our time in each of the chambers and Supreme Court. We studied all of the statues and the plaques describing the individuals. He rubbed Lincoln’s shoe for good luck. During our tour, we stumbled upon Colonel Sanders so he wanted to go back and get a picture with it. After taking the picture and zooming in on it, we realized Joseph and Colonel Sanders have the same hair style. We stopped outside each chamber where there is a poster of each district and their representative or senator. He studied those maps for quite a while. it was nice to be able to take our time. He noticed the house had electronic voting buttons and did not recall seeing anything similar in the senate. So we walked back to the senate and sure enough we did not see a voting mechanism. We stopped at the front desk and asked and they told us the senate uses roll call for votes versus the electronic voting in the house.

We headed up to the gallery about one o’clock so he could check-in to be a page on the house floor. We waited a for a little while until the other pages arrived and then he was taken down for his orientation.

I then headed over to the senate and waited for our state senator, Sen. John Schickel and our district school superintendent Dr. Randy Poe to arrive. We checked in and waited for the senate to be called to session. If you have never visited either of our chambers while they are in session, I highly recommend it. It is very interesting to watch the rules and procedures unfold. For students, it is a wonderful way to see what they have learned in school in action.

When it was Sen. Schickel’s turn to speak on the Resolution which he had submitted in my honor, Dr. Poe and I walked to stand by the senator. The resolution was read by clerk in a loud booming voice. Was this really happening? Sen. Schickel then said some very nice words about Dr. Poe and the work we are doing in Boone County to engage parents in our schools. He hit the nail on the head when he said, I am one who likes to stay in the shadows, I do not look for recognition. Receiving the award and now the Senate citation, has been very humbling. It is extra special that Dr. Poe has gone above and beyond to be there for each of the recognitions. He deserves as much of the recognition as I do. I would do be able to lead the parent engagement initiatives in Boone County and Northern Kentucky without his support.

After the senate, we quickly scooted over to the house. The house had started business at the same time and was about to wrap up their introductions when we arrived but we snuck in under the wire. We were able to watch Joseph be recognized as a page for the House. Rep Wuchner was even able to tease him in that he was probably the first page to bring his school superintendent with him. That brought a chuckle from the house floor. Then it was time for recognition in the house. While Dr. Poe and I stood in the gallery, the House Resolution was read in another loud booming voice. Rep Wuchner has been a strong supporter and encourager of my work in engaging parents in education. She even has attended past ParentCamps in NKY participating in sessions on topics such as dyslexia. She knows all too well, the benefits of healthy and engaged families. To be honored by her and the house will be an unforgettable experience. And I think my son was a little proud of his mom too.

The house session ended rather quickly today. We were prepared to stay much later. Last year when the kids paged, we didn’t leave until after 6pm. The debates that took place were fascinating to watch. But alas, no debates today, but we do know we can keep an eye on the legislation and when it look like there are going to be some good debates, we can catch them on KET on-line. There is something for kids to be able to say “I’ve been there” or “I’ve met that person.”

#ParentEngagement #VisitCapitol #KYGA18 #RealWorldLearning