Oestreich, Abler Selected for Youth Conference
by Rhayna Waldner
Pierce juniors Carson Oestreich and Hailey Abler have been selected to participate in the Nebraska Attorney General’s Youth Council, a youth conference that Doug Peterson, the Attorney General of Nebraska, puts on for high school juniors every year.
At this conference, 40 juniors from all across Nebraska meet up in Lincoln and get a look at what it means to have leadership in the state of Nebraska. The youth conference will be held on Tuesday, April 16, at the Capitol in Lincoln.
Letters were sent out to schools across Nebraska asking each school to nominate students for this conference. Oestreich and Abler were selected for Pierce, so each had to fill out an application. The application process consisted of the students expressing why they were interested in doing this and what skills they have that would make them a good representative. They also had to provide a letter of recommendation and an essay describing how any one of the amendments in the US Constitution still has an effect on their daily lives and the impact it has on their community. After their applications were done, they were sent to the Attorney General and a committee he puts together to choose what students will attend the conference, where Oestreich and Abler were both selected.
While Oestreich and Abler are there, they will eat lunch with the Attorney General and Lieutenant Governor and listen to justices from the Supreme Court speak. Also, people from the Legislator will come and do a mock bill. The idea of this mock bill is to help young people understand how certain issues in the state of Nebraska are dealt with and to show the juniors how the state is run. At the conference, the students will be asked for their input on what they think will happen in the future for the state of Nebraska and how they will be able to help these certain issues in the future.
“I’m excited to go because I’m interested in learning more about how the government and our state runs,” Oestreich said. “I think it’ll be a good learning experience, and I think I’ll be able to take a lot away from it.
Abler said, “I’m interested to meet the Attorney General and all of the other people from the state we will get to learn from.”
