Meeting of Awesomeness

Hello 5th Graders!

Last weekend I was at the Old State House in Hartford for ANOTHER Cabinet meeting! It was so much fun! I learned so much about my Cabinet and even got to meet one of the members in person. Let me tell you all about it. 

On Saturday, I went to the Old State House to have my second Cabinet meeting and to record a speech for an upcoming event for adults and high school students. I went with my mom and arrived around 11:30am. I had written a speech and Mr. C (the person in charge of the Kid Governor program) helped edit it. I went up into the green screen room (or as I like to call it, the "Seeeecret Roooooom" as I wave my hands around) and recorded the speech. This speech was for an event called the Civic Ambassadors Summit. Civic Ambassadors are people that try and spend at least one hour per week empowering others and making a difference in their communities. This program is run by Everyday Democracy and Secretary of the State Merrill (she was the one to swear me and my Cabinet in on Inauguration Day). My speech was all about how it is important to help out in your community because it makes the world a better place.

Once I was done recording my speech, it was time to meet one of my Cabinet members. The member of my Cabinet I got to meet was (drumroll please!): Sameer! Sameer came to the Old State House to attend the Cabinet meeting from one of the offices in the building. Keep in mind that we were social distancing and wearing masks when we met. Soon I went back up to the "Seeeecret Room" and started the meeting. 

We started the meeting by doing a fun ice breaker. I had come up with three questions and we went around in a circle and shared our answers. The three questions were: 

1. Who is your favorite music artist or type of music?

2. What is the best place you've ever been?

3. What is something about yourself that you want us to know?

For the last question, Sameer said that something he wanted us to know about himself was that he moved to America from Afghanistan two years ago. Houda said that something about her that she wanted us to know was that she has a twin sister! It was so cool to learn about my Cabinet members because their fun facts were so cool!

After that, we did a quick group activity before we got into the meeting. It was a game that Mr. Orcutt and Ms. Gorski (two staff members at the Connecticut Democracy Center) had come up with. Have you ever heard of Mute-iny? That's what we played! Mute-iny is a game you play where somebody get a funny secret sentence and has to say it on mute (if you're on a video call) or silently so no one can hear. The other players have to guess the sentence by reading their lips! One of the sentences was "Pink flamingos eat potatoes" and it made me laugh so hard! My sentence was "Cereal is cold breakfast soup". The only word that they could figure out was cold. I seriously couldn't stop laughing!

Next, we did updates on our platforms, went over a few things, and then we had a special guest: Ms. Irene Parisi, the Chief Academic Officer for the State Department of Education. My Cabinet and I have an upcoming event at the end of the month where we get to tell superintendents about our platforms! Ms. Parisi was telling us about the event and answering our questions. 

Finally the meeting was over and I went back downstairs. Mr. C wanted me to show Sameer the Kid Governor's office and he even let me show him the Museum of Curiosities. If you're not sure what that is, it is a museum of weird, dead animals and is similar to one that was there before the Old State House was a museum-- it was started in 1798! There are a bunch of creepy bugs, fish, and a two-headed cow, and a two-headed pig in there. I think Sameer was a little surprised by the Museum of Curiosities but I'm obsessed with creepy stuff. Finally, that was the end of my day at the Old State House and I went home. 

Now it's time for the fun fact of the week! I have two sisters, Madison and Mckena. Madison will be graduating from college in May and McKenna is a Sophomore in college. 

Make sure to check out Cora's blog post about Earth Day! 

Stay Positive! :)