Katie Park ’21 at the Capitol with Save the Children

Freshman Katie Park ’21 spent park of her spring break in Washington, D.C. at the 2018 Save the Children Action Network Advocacy Summit. Katie shares her thoughts on the experience below:

Over Spring break, I joined 236 advocates from around the US to participate in the 2018 Save the Children Action Network (SCAN) Advocacy Summit in Washington, DC. Along with four other Teen Student Ambassadors from the Fairfield Leadership Council and Greenwich Leadership Councils for Save the Children, we represented the state of Connecticut. We spent 3 days learning how to advocate for policy change and about the issues they were advocating for which was Early Childhood Education (ECE) and Maternal Newborn Child (MNCS) health. The experience ended with a day on Capital Hill meeting with our state representatives advocating for funding of these programs. I am happy to report that our day on Capital Hill was fruitful and the federal budget was passed with bipartisan support last week a day after our visit.
My “ask” was for our representatives to sign letters led by Representative Clark (D-MA) in support of Early Head Start, Head Start and funding for Child Care and Development Block grants (CCDBG), and Preschool Development Grants. Fortunately, my job was not hard because everyone we met with was already on board. We met with Legislative Assistants (LAs) for Senator Blumenthal and Senator Murphy and the he highlight of the trip was meeting with Representative Jim Himes.

Congressman Himes spent a great deal of time listening to us and discussing the need for funding of ECE programs for low income families in our own local community especially in Bridgeport. He even brought us to the floor to see the vote on the Crapo (pronounced Cray-po) Bill. It was fascinating to watch the process and see representatives from around the country. He then brought us on a guided tour of the Statuary Hall, the Rotunda and the Old Senate Chambers. He finished our tour with a story of the caning of Senator Charles Sumner an abolitionist by Senator Brooks in retaliation for a speech given by Sumner insulting a relative of Brooks, a slaveholder. I learned so much about history, the government and the important issues of early childhood education and maternal newborn child health.

Overall, this experience was a privilege and I am excited to bring what I have learned back home and share with my peers. There was a very well spoken group of students from Deerfield Academy. I am hoping that in the future, more Hopkins students will join me and together use our voices to create positive change. We can start by acknowledging the week of the Young Child. The week of the Young Child is an annual celebration hosted by the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) celebrating early learning, young children, their teachers, and families. This year's event is April 16–20, 2018!