Thank you to all who arranged, supported and facilitated the second consecutive T.B. and Elva Ferguson Good Government Symposium for seniors in high school held Nov. 15. We celebrated Oklahoma Statehood Day, Nov. 16, 1907. The Chisholm Trail Technology Center CTTC graciously hosted the event in its conference center.
The purpose of the symposium is to prepare seniors in high school to participate in democracy by registering to vote, to vote as informed citizens, to consider serving on volunteer committees in support of government, and to consider running and serving as a local, state or national elected official. It also educates them on the roles of various elected officials.
This year, 60 students from Okeene and Watonga participated. Geary was scheduled, but because of lost classroom time from a water outage, and a scheduling difficulty in a playoff game, they had to cancel.
Some 13 speakers participated. Dwight McGee of the Watonga School Board and Loren Parham of the CTTC board spoke of the duties of school board officials in supporting schools. County elected officials including Treasurer Crystal Perez, County Clerk Jennifer Haigler and Sheriff Travis Daugherty represented county elected officials. The three Blaine County Commissioners were attending a state meeting and Court Clerk Christy Matli and County Assessor Misty Kitson were attending critical county functions.
Jeff Gose, the Mayor of Thomas and Ryan Bruner of the Watonga City Council shared challenges and progress in their respective towns.
Blaine County Election Board director Brenda Rice, who is nominated by the state senator, and her staff provided information and applications to the students.
Representative Mike Dobrinski spoke via internet from Arizona where he was representing Oklahoma in an energy conference. He covered topics such as water releases from Canton Lake, cedar removal, and multiple energy sources. Senator Darcy Jech encouraged students to participate in the Page Program in either the Senate or House. He explained his work as a senior senator leading two committees and service on five other committees.
Judge Allison Lafferty, the elected Associate District Judge was unavailable, but was ably represented by her husband, Todd Lafferty.
At the national level, Wesley Javorsky, the field representative for Representative Frank Lucas and Field Representative for Senator James Lankford, Peyton Burns, spoke of the work in the House of Representatives and U.S. Senate. Both showed short videos made especially for the occasion. For Senator Markwayne Mullin, we shared a representative short “wrap up of the week” in the Senate.