GOP Congressman Rob Bishop joined more than 200 high school students from his district today at the state capitol for his 8th annual Education Conference. Bishop sponsors the event each year to help students gain a better understanding of state and federal government.
Bishop says the conference is enjoyable for him because it allows him to be a teacher again. The Congressman from the state’s first district taught in Utah public schools for 29 years.
“So in the morning we do some area that is part of the government curriculum that will usually be on an AP test, campaigns the presidency and the constitution,” Bishop says. “This afternoon we’ll divide them up and they’ll do activities with two topics that are going to be hot this year, obviously public lands and tax structure.”
Bishop says there is a focus on federalism every year, but the goal is to supplement what students are learning in their civics classes.
Arthur Wardle is a senior at Skyview Highschool in Smithfield Utah.
“We learn a lot about government but it’s kind of hard to visualize the way things work,” Wardle says. “So it’s kind of cool to be in sessions that are on the Senate and the House floors and also to kind of open up dialogue with the people who are actually running the government.”
Invitations to the event were sent to all high schools in the first congressional district. Students were selected by their teachers to attend.