EVERETT — For the third straight year, students learned how politicians, park rangers, public works surveyors and more keep Snohomish County running during “Civic Education Day” on Thursday.
Over 300 students from 11 local schools went to the county campus in Everett to take part — more than double last year’s attendance.
It’s not just a learning opportunity for the students, but the leaders listen to new perspectives as well.
“They ask us about the comprehensive plan and land use, about climate change policy, housing policy, and you get actually open-minded questions with people who are actually listening to what you’re saying,” County Council member Jared Mead said. “They give you really interesting input and feedback because they don’t know what they’re already supposed to believe. They don’t come into the conversation with an idea already.”
At the event, students were able to hear from search and rescue workers, Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office K-9 handlers, election officials, the executive department and council members Mead and Nate Nehring. The two shared details on the process of county government action, as well as their journeys to getting appointed, then elected, to their seats.
“I didn’t know how closely county government worked with people in their districts,” said Julia Deleore, an 18-year-old senior at Snohomish High School. “Anybody can directly go to them. I thought you had to go to someone in your city but you can just go straight to them.”
The event is about more than just sharing information, Mead and Nehring said. It’s about putting a face to the names within county government and showing students that they too can become politically involved.
“It means a lot more when you understand it’s real people who do all the things that make our lives what they are, and it’s just regular people affecting change,” said Kristen McPherson, a civics teacher at Cascade High School whose class took part in the event for the first time. “It makes something not very tangible, like government, suddenly very real.”
For county public works surveyors like Lucas Rate and Shawn Rodland, their presentation about roads and mapping also served as a quasi-job fair, looking to recruit students to a high-paying industry with an aging workforce. The two are “hungry to get younger folks into surveying,” Rate said, but were able to hand out a number of informational pamphlets to interested students after their presentation.
Maybe one of them will be working alongside Rate and Rodland soon.
“Anything we can do as teachers to show kids the things they’re learning about, how the things they’re learning about translate into the real world or the world outside of the classroom, is really valuable,” McPherson said. “I think it makes them see that what we’re learning matters.”
Will Geschke: 425-339-3443; william.geschke@heraldnet.com; X: @willgeschke.
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