The Sinclair Ohio Fellows sponsored a trip to the Ohio Statehouse where political science students from Charles Curran\u2019s state and local government class had the chance to experience government in action.
\nTheir professor, Charles Curran, and Sinclair Ohio Fellows advisor, Tom Roberts, joined twelve students and lead them on their tour of the Statehouse sharing their experiences with the group.
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\nCurran and Roberts both previously served in the Ohio legislature. Roberts, D, served from 1986 to 2000 in the House, and in the Senate from 2001 to 2008. Curran served as a Democratic State Senator for the 6th district from 1979 to 1983.
\nThe group made stops to listen in on hearings before the Transportation, Commerce and Labor committee where the Transportation and Public Safety Budget was discussed.
\nStudents had the chance to chat with two lobbyists after the hearings were completed and learn about the history of the term lobbyist. Roberts explained that the term originated when petitioners would meet legislators in the lobby to discuss issues.
\n\u201cThey had a chance to talk with some lobbyist and see a committee hearing, that\u2019s really where the guts of the legislature are. It\u2019s not out on the floor, out on the floor is after the fact,\u201d Curran said.
\nBefore making their way to the Senate and House sessions the group enjoyed lunch at the Capitol Caf\u00e9 in the Statehouse.
\n\u201cMy favorite part besides the meal, because lunch was really good, would be actually hearing the vote pass on the House floor,\u201d said Deborra Hill, a real estate major and small business owner.
\nAfter lunch students had the chance to hear House Bill 4 pass and experience a Bill pas through the House. House Bill 4 makes Naloxone, a drug that reduces the effects of other narcotics, more available. Naloxone is most specifically used in treatment of heroin overdose.
\nHill, who in the past worked in hospitals, was happy to see the Bill pass.
\n\u201cI\u2019ve seen people addicted to heroin and it\u2019s not a pretty site,\u201d Hill said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe could end up with a situation where \u2026 we\u2019re encouraging addiction itself because we\u2019re building in all of these protections,\u201d Rep. Ron Young, R said.
\nWhile walking the halls of the Statehouse, students met Rep. Fred Strahorn, D, who is Minority Leader and represents Ohio\u2019s 39th district, which includes much of Dayton.
\nGovernor Kasich stopped to say hello to Curran and Roberts after speaking at a fundraiser.
\nTeresa Fedor, D, represents the 45th district, and talked with the group about her work with human trafficking.
\n\u201cI\u2019m very confident in what we have to begin to really eradicate this human rights violation in the state of Ohio,\u201d Fedor said in a Columbus Dispatch report after the End Demand Act, which boosts paying for sex with a minor from a first-degree misdemeanor to a third- or fifth-degree felony, was passed.
\nStudents were exposed to many different ideas throughout the day. After the tour Curran spoke with his students in the lobby of the Statehouse before they returned to the bus.
\n\u201cI hope there was little bit of exposure to the State government structure, number one. Number two, I hope there were some connections made with personalities they have heard about,\u201d Curran said.
\nTara Poteet, a political science major, has been a Sinclair student for two years and plans to attend the University of Dayton after graduating from Sinclair. She shared her thoughts on the trip.
\n\u201cI think it was great for everybody because most people don\u2019t even know this is open so they are probably more likely to come back and experience it again versus being completely oblivious to things that are going on around them,\u201d said Poteet.
\nPoteet explained that she isn\u2019t a political science major to become a politician, but that she is interested in working in military intelligence.
\n\u201cI\u2019m hoping that I will make some connections once I get to UD. We have a great intelligence area here,\u201d said Poteet.
\nHill expressed why the trip was important to her.
\n\u201cI never would have come here on my own,\u201d said Hill. \u201cA lot of the laws I was unfamiliar with, so I\u2019ll be able to apply what I\u2019ve learned to my real estate career, and some of these laws are important and how to amend some of those laws if you come across some of those laws that you want changed.\u201d
\nSinclair Ohio Fellows will continue to sponsor the trip to the Ohio Statehouse. Roberts said the trip will be offered to students every other year.
\n\u201cIt\u2019s a part of citizenship\u2026 It gives them a chance to see what they heard in the classroom. You vote for those people, now you get to see what they do,\u201d Roberts said. \u201cIt\u2019s democracy in action.\u201d
\nCurran spoke about the experience being beneficial for students to actually see government in action.
\n\u201cThis is a wonderful laboratory,\u201d Curran said.<\/p>\n
Matt Sells The Sinclair Ohio Fellows sponsored a trip to the Ohio Statehouse where political science students from Charles Curran\u2019s state and local government class had the chance to experience government in action. Their professor, Charles Curran, and Sinclair Ohio Fellows advisor, Tom Roberts, joined twelve students and lead them on their tour of the Statehouse sharing […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4407,"featured_media":11250,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[3],"tags":[2081],"class_list":["post-11313","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-tartan-news","tag-matt-sells"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"cc_featured_image_caption":{"caption_text":false,"source_text":false,"source_url":false},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p5s3vR-2Wt","jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/StateHouse1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11313","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4407"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11313"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11313\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11316,"href":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11313\/revisions\/11316"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11250"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11313"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11313"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11313"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nExecutive Editor<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"