Office of U.S. Congressman Don Bacon’s Project Coordinator, Makenzie Cartwright spent a large portion of the day on 2/21/2020, teaching the HAL (High Ability Learners) students at Papillion / LaVista Middle Schools all about the U.S. Congress, Senate, committees, bill selection and election process. The students were separated into two groups, initially, and one group was told they were republicans and the other group democrats. Each group was to choose a speaker. The speakers from both groups came forward and attempted to convince the rest of the Senate to vote for their bill. After that all students were broken into another two groups to debate the bills. The Douglas County Public Defender, Brenda Leuck, followed up near the end of the day teaching the HAL students about her job and the courtroom.
