The Fort Vancouver chapter of the Sons of the American Revolution are impressed with civics being taught to the region’s students, so they invited Woodland High School teacher Shari Conditt, and some of her classroom leaders, for a discussion at a recent meeting

Paul Valencia
ClarkCountyToday.com

They invited political leaders and leading experts to the discussion.

They did the research, and came up with the questions.

They provided the ground rules, too.

Oh, and they promoted the event, as well.

It was quite the undertaking, but it also proved that engaged students can conquer large projects.

Students in the Advanced Placement Government class at Woodland High School created a Power Hour, for citizens to hear from the mayor, a city planner, and community leaders as they took turns answering questions regarding zoning laws.

By all accounts, the Power Hour, held in December, was a success.

This past weekend, the Fort Vancouver chapter of the Sons of the American Revolution invited some of the students, and their teacher, to share their experiences at a club meeting. 

Shari Conditt, the teacher, had already been recognized by the chapter as the region’s history teacher of the year. The chapter also is impressed with Conditt’s commitment to civics. 

Her students are passionate about civics, as well.

“She has definitely inspired me to get involved in government. I think that is where I’m going to go with my career path,” Woodland senior Hadley Shores said. “With this experience under my belt, I’m so excited to see what’s next.”

“Getting involved in civil dialogue at such a young age has been really, really beneficial,” added senior Samantha Brown.

Brown was one of the moderators at the Power Hour. She also helped with the marketing of the event, designing posters.

In fact, just about every student involved had to do multiple jobs. Shores was in marketing and also designed the logo for the backdrop for the event.

Hayden Banham was on the research team, coming up with many of the questions for the panel. He also was a greeter, welcoming guests to Power Hour.

That might seem like a small thing, but the students said it was important for everyone to feel welcome. There were going to be differing opinions on zoning and housing, for example. But it was important for the students to ensure that all of their guests were comfortable.

So what is Power Hour?

“I usually phrase it as a community conversation,” Brown said. “I think the main goal for us was to give citizens a platform where they felt like they could learn more about their issues.”

Banham also hoped to inspire people to get involved.

“It was trying to get people together to try to learn about a new topic, get people interested in it,” he said.

Conditt said she started thinking about an event such as this last spring. She acknowledged not everyone jumped at the idea of zoning as the topic. Few people in her class knew what it was, in fact.

But zoning laws lead to decisions on how to handle traffic. That piqued the interest level.

“Woodland has some traffic challenges,” Conditt said. “There was an immediate excitement when we realized what zoning really meant. Who doesn’t feel fervent about traffic? We had folks with really strong feelings about Exit 21 (off Interstate 5) and roundabouts.” 

The student moderators asked questions for the first half hour of the Power Hour, then opened it up to questions from the audience.

The students told the SAR members that their format helped maintain civil discussion. Those in the audience with passionate opinions were not allowed to just bombard panel members with their own questions initially. They had to hear from the panel of experts first.

The students also gave equal time for answers. Rarely did anyone talk over another, they said.

“I had never seen or been involved in anything like this before,” Shores said. “I thought it was super awesome.”

She described the Power Hour, with a myriad of opinions, “peaceful.”

“The biggest thing I took away from it is how quickly conversations can solve conflict,” Brown said. “I feel like we left that event understanding and knowing more about our city.”

“It just brings our community together and helps us learn from one another,” Banham added.

The students impressed their teacher.

“Young people can do this work,” Conditt said. “They created something so professional. … They can engage. And when they do, they create brilliant, brilliant experiences.”

The students who presented at the Sons of American Revolution were awarded Good Citizenship Pins.