On February 11, the Madison High School student council and Maroon newspaper staff stormed the Capitol building during the “Madison Hosts the Legislature" day, chaperoned by Dana Gonyo and Christen Hildebrandt. The journey began, prior to the crack of dawn, towards South Dakota's beautiful capital city of Pierre.
The crowd of 18, two teachers and 16 students, rolled into Pierre bright and early, eager to experience the hustle of the day and meet state senators and representatives. The high school group began their quest with a stop in a committee meeting regarding fertilizers and then proceeded to sit in during a transportation meeting, in which car registration was discussed and whether there should be a fee for out of state people to register their cars in South Dakota.
This was followed by a self-guided tour of the capitol and grounds Mr. Hildebrandt supplied informative information about the capitol during the tour. The group followed up the stairs, to look at the dome and painting adorning said dome. There were many trips up and down the winding, and often confusing staircases. The group then headed over to the Ramkota meeting hall for a luncheon with fellow Madison area citizens and district representatives.
At the lunch, a taco bar, the group got listened to brief speeches by Senator Jordan Youngberg and Representative Marli Wiese. MHS Student Council President and Co-editor of the Maroon, Grace Nelson (pictured below) also spoke at the luncheon. President Nelson informed all the officials and other tourists on the successes and goals of the high school, wowing the audience with all of the schools impressive accomplishments.
Lunch came to a close and the drive back to the Capitol building began. The students were joined by the respected adults of the Madison community, eager for an audience with Governor Kristi Noem. Once everyone was in the meeting hall, Governor Noem came in and answered our communities' questions with great esteem and poise. After 40 minutes of back and forth information sharing, it was time for the next activities. The group was allowed the opportunity to sit in on House meeting and Senate meetings for around an hour.
The students visited the Capitol Lake to look at the geese and fish (pictured below). As exciting as the pond and geese were, it was time to move on to the Department of Criminal Investigation building for a tour. There, the group got to learn all the different types of jobs needed in the crime lab, some of the major crimes solved, thanks to their lab, and how everything works. The tour started with a demonstration of police training, followed by a tour of the rest of the facilities discussing everything the training officers have to accomplish and all the tasks of the lab.
The day came to a close with dinner in the Ramkota meeting hall. While the dinner didn’t officially conclude until 8pm or so, the group of MHS students left around 5:30pm, having had a long, full day.