Richland students headed to Austin to attend Community College Day on February 3.
The event, hosted annually in the Texas Capitol by the Texas Association of Community Colleges, gives students the opportunity to meet directly with their senators and representatives and advocate for the causes that they believe are important to their fellow classmates.
Prior to their meetings with state officials, the crowd of more than 800 students stood before the steps of the Capitol as they attended a collection of speeches, which primarily narrated the advancements made in increasing opportunities for community college students and representing their needs at a state level. Members from each of the seven campuses at Dallas College attended the event, with Richland students comprising 16 out of nearly 200 Dallas College students that were present in the audience.
“Today is a day of power and purpose,” said Mrs. Susan Moore-Fontenot, Chair of the Board of Directors for the Community College Association of Texas Trustees and Vice Chair of Lee College Board of Regents.
“A day when your 800+ voices will echo through the halls of our state Capitol and remind every lawmaker that community colleges are not just institutions of learning, but engines of transformation and opportunity.”
In addition, Richland Student Media’s Editor-in-Chief Malak Elkady, who currently serves as President of the Texas Junior College Student Government Association, was one of the four speakers at the start of the event.
“Community colleges are the backbone of opportunity in our state. They provide affordable, flexible, and high quality education to hundreds of thousands of Texans,” said Elkady. “But behind the numbers are real stories. We’re students juggling work and school, parents pursuing degrees to build a better life for their families, and first generation students breaking barriers for future generations.”
As the commencement of the event came to an end, the students entered the Capitol and spent the remainder of the day conversing with their elected officials, attending budget and proposal meetings, eating lunch at the Capitol Grill, and reading about the history of the state building.
Texas State Representative of House District 11 Joanne Shoffner discussed the importance of representing the needs of community college students in an interview with Richland Student Media.
“I love community college. I think it’s so important for our economy, and it’s so important for high school students, too, that want to get dual credit.”
In addition, Representative Shoffner shared her opinion on the importance of youth interest and involvement in the government.
“It [youth involvement] is 100% important because that’s how our government is made. Our government was made for citizens to be involved…And so it’s vital for every single student, every single person, every single citizen to get involved.”
Dallas College students spent a total two nights in Austin, attending a boat cruise of the Lady Bird Lake in the Downtown and visiting the Harry Ransom Center at the University of Texas at Austin—which stores a collection of cultural and literary artifacts from across Europe and the Americas—in addition to participating in Community College Day. Overall, the event provided students the chance to perceive the inner workings of the state government and interact directly with their elected lawmakers.
