Bianca's Reflections

Bianca
16 years old

I attended Statewide Latino Advocacy Day with the members of the Youth Advocacy Council from North Philadelphia. Our goal was to talk to state representatives about Immigration and education in Pennsylvania. We felt Immigration and Education should be a federal issue and the education system should be funded a lot more since the problem is that schools are underspent. We received the opportunity to speak with Representative Taylor and Speaker Dennis O' Brien. Surprisingly, these two representatives support the reform of the education system as well as the importance of protecting rights of those undocumented workers who contribute to the economy. I had a great time and I enjoyed the fact that I received such an opportunity as this. It really hit home for me because I am representing all of the high school students in North Philadelphia who have been struggling over the years. I think the representatives really understood how important these issues are to us because we were able to tell them about our personal experiences. I drove to Harrisburg with my peers, stood in the Crowne Plaza hotel and woke up the next morning to create history! The Statewide Latino Advocacy Day has been a good experience for me and has definitely paved way for next years success.