03/27/09 Claudia "Dolly" Powers' Secret To Political Success: Use Child Labor

A chance for students to try hands at politics

By Claudia "Dolly" Powers

Greenwich Time Columnist

Most political campaigns, mine included, have run on volunteers of all ages. Years ago, one of my sons and his buddies voluntarily donned screaming-red T-shirts and paraded around the Greenwich High School student center one day just before the election. Another younger son gamely shivered atop an antique fire engine in a parade through the very brisk October streets of town.

Yet another son of very tender years passed out campaign literature at a local doughnut shop, fueled by an alarming quantity of Munchkins. Demonstrably, campaigning can be mastered at any age. But our political process is not just the rigmarole of the campaign trail.

Once an exciting campaign like last year's presidential race is done, where can we channel all that newly generated energy? For local juniors in high school, I have a suggestion.....

.....Check out Connecticut Boys and Girls State. These are two separate events that run for one week in late June at a Connecticut college campus. Following that, Boys and Girls Nation is held in July in Washington, D.C. Greenwich students are selected for the two programs and supported by the Greenwich Boys and Girls State Commission in concert with American Legion Post No. 29........

.....Claudia "Dolly" Powers, a Greenwich resident, is a former special education teacher who represented the town's 151st District for eight terms in the state House of Representatives.

================================================================

Please send your comments, news tips and press releases to GreenwichRoundup@gmail.com or click on the comments link at the end of this post.