On February 26, Ms. Morris and her Writing for Change class left for the Utah State Capitol. The class went with the intention to deliver letters written by fellow students to their local representatives. These letters were about student support or concerns on recent House bills; the class also had a mission of their own, staying the entirety of the school day to lobby with officials from around the state.

“I think it’s important for students to meet with their representatives and to write to the representatives because it kind of demystifies the process,” Ms. Morris said. “Students can write to their representatives, they can call them, they can even text them. One of my goals was to make access accessible to young people now, so that they know that this is an ongoing relationship. It’s community building, it’s networking, and they shouldn’t feel afraid to just reach out and let people know what’s on their mind and what they care about.”

“One thing that I’ve seen that’s kind of magical is that representatives will listen to students, whereas, unfortunately, I think in our country, often adults have a hard time hearing each other, especially when they have different political views. But when it comes to a young person coming into this building and saying, like, Hey, I’m passionate about this topic. I’d like to talk with you about this topic. The most of the time, the senators and representatives will listen.”

“We have much more power as students than we think we do,” senior Will Glenn said. “We think we’re just in the back seat of a car that’s going off a cliff, but in reality, we have quite a lot of power. Anybody can come to the building, anybody can text their representatives or send letters to them, and they can vote how they want to vote, and it’s really special.”