ARLINGTON — While it’s not uncommon to feel jaded about the political process, especially during an election year, MacKenna Kelly came back from meeting with members of Congress feeling optimistic about our nation’s prospects.
The Arlington High School sophomore was one of 38 students nationwide, and one of only two from the state, selected to take part in the YMCA’s National Advocacy Days conference Feb. 21-24 in Washington, D.C.
YMCA Youth and Government members were assigned topics representing the Y’s three areas of focus: Youth Development, Healthy Living and Social Responsibility. Since MacKenna was most interested in Youth Development, she was given the opportunity to discuss juvenile justice.
“The youth of today are our future,” MacKenna said. “If we’re not teaching them good citizenship and leadership now, the political process is going to go downhill. They need to learn how to respect each other and work together.”
After researching juvenile justice, MacKenna concluded that the justice system needs to focus more on rehabilitating young offenders than on punishing them.
“Instead of prison, we should be looking at counseling and mentorship to help work through their underlying problems,” MacKenna said. “We should ask why they’re committing crimes.”
MacKenna argued against incarcerating juveniles with adults.
“They should not be mixing with adult offenders,” MacKenna said. “They shouldn’t even be within sound or sight of them. Youths who are held in adult facilities, even if it’s just overnight, are twenty percent more likely to commit suicide.”
In contrast to the incivility she’s witnessed among this year’s presidential candidates, MacKenna came away from her one-on-one meetings with her peers and members of Congress impressed by how well they were able to work together.
“I was dealing with people whose beliefs were very much the opposite of my own, but we were able to get along and find common ground,” said MacKenna, who met U.S. Rep. Rick Larsen yet again during her trip.
MacKenna has participated in the program for three years, but she first visited Washington, D.C., as part of a family vacation six years ago, which also marked her first meeting with Larsen.
As much as she loved the architecture of our nation’s capitol, she was even more effusive about the cooperativeness of its officials.
“I was surprised by how available everyone was,” MacKenna said. “The Congressmen had their doors open, so you could talk to them or their aides. People think you can’t change government, but it’s their job to hear our voices and represent what we want.”
MacKenna even learned something about herself during the event’s diversity and inclusion workshop, when she reevaluated her own reactions to specific groups of people.
“So often, we can judge people by characteristics that don’t actually define them,” MacKenna said. “Advocacy is about using your voice to speak on behalf of others who can’t speak for themselves.”
