Gilpin students attend Colorado Close-Up Program
Gilpin County Schools
For the fifth year in a row, students from Gilpin County High School attended the third session of the annual Colorado Close-Up Program. This intensive three-day program focuses on engaging Colorado’s youth in an in-depth study of our state government. Our students spent the three days in marathon training sessions, which were primarily led by the students or by various elected legislators of the state. The in-depth program covered all three branches of the state government and was held at the state Supreme Court building, the State Capitol, and in the Denver Court House.
While in the House and Senate, the students watched debates over various issues, voting on bills, and talked to lobbyists from several organizations throughout the state about issues important to Gilpin County such as education funding, the I-70 corridor, and environmental issues.
From Sunday noon to Tuesday afternoon our students participated in discussions on Hot Topics where students work with their peers to create solutions addressing the hot issues in their communities, examining the positive and negative consequences related to those solutions. They attended a session called, “Role of the Media” where local media professionals joined our students to discuss the impact of the media in the political realm and help students learn to form the “perfect question.” U.S. Representative Jared Polis, from Colorado’s 2nd Congressional District, was a keynote speaker and addressed our students about the importance of civic engagement and being leaders within their own communities. Monday brought along a mock trial in The Judicial Branch in which our kids participated along with nine other high schools from Meeker, Rifle, Caliche, Plainview, Weldon Valley, Florence, La Junta, Widefield, and Rangeview, CO.
This year’s Colorado Close-Up participants included seniors Katie Schimanskey, Bobby Garza, and David Yerkman, junior class representatives Haeley Johnson and Megan Ball, and sophomores Molly Quaranto, Jon Adams, Michael Barngrover, Becca Schafer, and Shelby Foelsch. Our high school social studies teacher, Karl Gates, was the accompanying sponsor from the school. For a month prior to the session the students researched and studied current and past legislation, “hot topic” issues, and several Supreme Court cases on their lunch breaks and in after school sessions in preparation for the event.
“It is very encouraging to see the amount of preparation and work that these kids were willing to put into this program. They represented Gilpin Schools very well and I am extremely proud of them,” said Karl Gates.
Taking time out from their hectic legislative schedules, Colorado State Senator Dan Gibbs, and Representative Claire Levy, joined the Gilpin student group for breakfast on the final day of the program. For an hour the students asked the legislators questions and talked about issues that specifically affect our county.
The Colorado Close-Up program is impressive in its scope and gave the students a better idea of how essential it is to be informed about the issues that affect our state and county and how important it is to be an active participant in our community’s future development.