By: Jane Schuchardt
About 80 area high school juniors and seniors traveled to the Neligh Veterans Club, and to the Antelope County government building, also in Neligh, last Thursday to participate in a half day immersion on the role of county government in making this a better place to live.
Elgin’s Legion Post 229 Commander Gary Hoefer facilitated the session organized by Tom Nelson, the county’s Veteran Services Officer, who could not be present. “Government involvement starts at home,” Hoefer said during an interview prior to the event.
At each school, students chose an office to visit. In the case where more than one student ‘applied’ for the same office, an election was held. As the day launched, all took a mock oath of office and then transitioned to the government building for a tour of the building and an explanation of the responsibilities of their selected office.
Gemma Miller and Libby Evans, both Elgin Public students in Brandon Callahan’s 15-member, junior-level American government class agreed the event was well worth the effort attending. Both got to ‘run’ for an office back at school. Miller chose the county commissioners and said, “This really expanded my knowledge. The commissioners manage budgets, mostly for road maintenance, and have short-term (one year) and long-term (six years) goals.”
Due to her involvement with 4-H, Evans was especially interested in the Extension Office. These are not elected positions and staff are identified through a partnership of the Antelope County Fair Board and Nebraska Extension headquartered at UNL. In addition to 4-H, a nationwide youth-serving program, she was especially impressed to know the Extension Office extends community learning for both adults and youth via classes on such topics as food safety, crop and livestock production, and a new one, Tai Chi.
Aiden Klein, a senior Pope John Catholic School, attended the learning session about the County Attorney’s office. He said he increased his understanding of jurisdiction, namely that the county attorney couldn’t try a case outside of Antelope County. He was especially interested in a case in Tilden where one assailant was in Madison County and the other in Antelope County. “What is the jurisdiction?” he asked fellow students in a wrap-up presentation to the whole group. Tilden is split by location in both counties.
…see more at this week’s Elgin Review.
