Nearly 50 New Hampshire students missed a day of school this week to argue for lower health care costs, stronger climate protections, and criminal justice reform. They made their case to a panel of civics leaders this week.
One group sounded like a roundtable of lawmakers: New Hampshire’s low taxes are a plus but the state needs more housing and better wages to entice workers. Another group argued for a greater use of renewable energy.
Elsie Brooks, a junior at Pittsfield Middle High School, focused on discrepancies between men’s and women’s health care.
“Women's pain is often underplayed. It is attributed to being overly emotional,” she said. “The first step that we can take is acknowledging that women's pain is real, it is serious and if we pay more attention to it, we can really change the way that health care in America works.”
NH Civics and Mikva Challenge paired middle and high schoolers from across the state based on their interests. Students researched their topics and presented their findings at the New Hampshire Institute of Politics at Saint Anselm College.
Mackenzie Urie, a Weare 7th grader, also chose health care because she wants to be a nurse. This challenge gave her a platform young students don’t always have, she said.
“I feel like there's some people that hear young voices, but then there's other people that don't really care about young voices because they think that they're not really that important,” she said.
Asked how the experience will translate into action, Brooks said her research and findings could lead to a career in women’s health care.
“For some other people, it's bringing these issues to legislature and bringing these issues to their school board, to their community members, to their parents even, and saying, ‘Hey, I really believe this is an issue. And I really believe I have a solution.”
Students left with shirts that read: "Democracy is a verb."