UI students meet with representatives over breakfast
Breakfast was the most important meal of the day for a group of University of Idaho students who were selected to speak with legislators at the Idaho Capitol Building Monday morning.
Students were charged with inviting their respective legislators to a breakfast platter and giving them a tour of different booths representing the various colleges and programs at UI.
Dubbed the Legislative Breakfast, ASUI President Nate Fisher said the annual event brings UI students face-to-face with the people who are going to vote on higher education budget appropriations.
“This is an event designed to get students connected with legislators here at the statehouse and try to be ambassadors for the university during this very important legislative session,” Fisher said. “We want legislators to have a real, concrete face associated with the university.”
Fisher said he did not expect participating students to lobby, and they were to connect with legislators on a personal level.
Legislative Breakfast participant and ASUI Sen. Stetson Holman represented District 34 and was able to sit down to eat some eggs and bacon with Rep. Ronald Nate, R-Rexburg.
“He was awesome,” Holman said. “He asked about University of Idaho, what our goals were being here and what Staben was going to propose at the JFAC meeting. We talked about my career plans and he even gave me some advice.”
Almost every student representative called their assigned district their home, according to UI Alumni Association Executive Director Steven Johnson.
“The real connection occurs when a student is an actual constituent of that legislator,” Johnson said.
UI senior Taylor Jorde, representing District 33, met both of her representatives and her district’s senator. However, she said her most memorable conversation was with Rep. Linden Bateman, R-Idaho Falls, who used to teach her grandfather back in high school.
“It was like I was talking to an old family friend that could have been my grandpa,” Jorde said. “We talked about Idaho Falls and the high school there. He had such great things to say about my grandpa, how he was his favorite student and how he still follows his photography in the newspaper.”
Johnson said the Legislative Breakfast is collaboration between the Alumni Office, the Student Alumni Relations Board and ASUI. He said the program has been going on since about 2009.
“When I arrived at UI, I saw an opportunity for students and the university to interact with legislators, so I recommended that we select a student from each legislative district to invite their elected legislator to breakfast,” Johnson said.
Abby Biedenbach, a UI senior, represented District 24 and said she appreciated how accessible the legislature was to students.
“We are very fortunate to live in a state with a small enough population where it’s really personal,” she said. “It puts my mind at ease that I can come talk to my legislature about my experience here at University of Idaho, and what impact it has had on me.”
George Wood Jr. can be reached at [email protected]