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On Tuesday, February 6th and Wednesday, February 7th, Memphis-area middle and high school students participating in TennesseeCAN’s Change Agent Pilot Program visited the State Capitol to learn about what it takes to become future policy leaders.
TennesseeCAN’s Change Agent Pilot Program offers Memphis’ youth a deep dive into the education issues facing students and teachers in classrooms throughout Tennessee, and aims to equip the next generation of education advocates and policymakers with early experiences that will help them learn how to be effective.
Sending a message to education policymakers, Zahra Chowdhury, an eighth grader at Pleasant View School, said, “Legislators should involve young adults in what they’re doing because this is going to affect us everyday.”
The trips to Nashville were a capstone experience for the two cohorts of students who participated in the four-week pilot program. Students met with state legislators, attended committee hearings, and participated in a mock legislative session.
“Our representatives and senators genuinely care about what we have to say,” said Karlynn Woods, senior at Germantown High School. “We just have to make sure we get our voices heard because they want to help us.”