Students represent Iron County during Superior Days

By RICHARD JENKINS

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Hurley - A trio of Hurley high school students recently traveled to Madison to take part in the annual Superior Days visit by representatives from the state's northern counties.

Hurley junior Melissa Simonar, freshman Dayne Stuhr and sophomore Cassandra Sobrack took part in the annual event that provides Northwoods residents the opportunity to lobby state legislators on a number of priorities deemed important to the northern part of the state.

Running Feb. 15-17, the visit included members from Iron, Ashland, Bayfield and Douglas counties, with invites also to Sawyer and Washburn counties.

Unlike previous years, this year featured only a single day of meetings, according to Iron County University of Wisconsin-Extension Office Youth Development Agent Neil Klemme.

The second day of the visit was open to a variety of planned sightseeing trips around the capital, Klemme said.

The first day consisted of forming "lobby teams," made of four to five people, who were assigned to meet with a handful of legislators to discuss selected issues.

"Each of us (on the lobby team) presented one issue we selected from a group of issues," Stuhr said.

While Simonar and Sobrack discussed the need to support Wisconsin Indianhead Technical College in Ashland, Stuhr argued for proposed legislation that would allow counties to increase the sales tax to fund roads.

Because of scheduling, the group didn't get to meet many lawmakers and dealt primarily with aides.

"We were there the day they were doing (a marathon of legislation before the end of the session. (Legislators) were in session from about 1 o'clock that afternoon until about 2:30 in the morning, so we talked to staffers," Klemme said.

Even though they only got a chance to interact with the staffers, the students felt they were receptive to the messages.

While Simonar attended Superior Days last year, it was the first time participating for Stuhr and Sobrack. Both said the trip was a unique experience.

"I learned how busy the Capitol is on a weekday and how busy all the lawmakers are," Stuhr said.

Sobrack liked seeing the Capitol's interior for the first time. "It was awesome architecture in there. The rotunda was amazing (with) it's high dome ... it was very cool."

The students also got a chance to tour Wisconsin Public Radio and Wisconsin Public Television, Klemme said, sitting in on a broadcast meeting, visiting sets and talking about their experience in Iron County's 4-H program.

The second day of the trip was filled with visits with various government officials, Klemme said, which were organized based on the students' interests.

Among those they met was Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice Shirley Abrahamson.

Hurley students also met their state senator, Janet Bewley. They sat in on a committee hearing as legislation was debated, while waiting for Bewley.

"I liked the committee meeting because they talked about passing bills for teachers and getting student loans (paid) off, which helps me because I'm going to be a teacher," said Simonar, referring to the proposed legislation that would forgive loans for teachers who work in rural communities.

A unique highlight from the trip was Sobrack's opportunity to interact with a Pakistani foreign exchange student who was part of her lobby group.

Klemme said he planned to continue using the additional day to explore Madison based on the students' interests and this year was a refreshing change of pace from the previous years, where everything followed a tight agenda.

He also said while it's good to travel with students who are familiar with Superior Days from past years, it was also nice to see Sobrack and Stuhr experience the trip for the first time.

"It's always nice to go down there when you've had kids who have done it before," Klemme said. "... Before this year, I had kids who had been there three years, and they knew ... what they were supposed to be doing.

"It was kind of nice to have experience, but this year it was also kind of nice to see kids who were doing it for the first time."