A Taste of the Future

Today I woke up at 4:45, drove up to my local Illinois Education Association headquarters by 6:00 and hopped on a bus with other Lake County educators to go to Springfield for the IEA Lobby Day.

I was excited to get a taste of state government while also making a difference for Illinois' teachers.

We gathered outside of the capitol...about 2,500 thousand of us...

Here I am with two other teachers from my school. Yes, everyone got a hat- I actually wore it because I forgot my sunglasses! HA!

Just like on TV and in the movies, everyone was chanting and protesting aspects of Governor Quinn's new budget proposals.



This is kind of a cool picture as the storms were rolling in. Thankfully the rain didn't start till we hit the road. :)

In the capitol...

We sat in on a bit of a House Session.

...and then that was it! Four hours to get there, four hours spent there, and four hours back. It was an interesting day and I definitely learned a lot. We were even able to meet up with one of my friends who works for the governor. She gave us some great insights and I felt a positive vibe from her for the changes Governor Quinn is hoping to make in Illinois. It's a long road to fix the many problems in our state...

Maybe one day I'll be back there...(for a job!?)