MATTHEW COURTER/Sun-Gazette Above, students participate in a workshop at state Sen. Gene Yaw’s annual student government seminar.

Students from across the region converged on Pennsylvania College of Technology Thursday morning as state Sen. Gene Yaw, R-Loyalsock Township, held his annual Student Government Seminar.

The seminar brought together 230 students from Lycoming, Bradford, Tioga, Union and Sullivan counties, all with the mindset of learning how the legislative process works and passing their own mock legislation.

“As you participate in brainstorming sessions, engage in debate and develop and vote on mock legislation, it’s a great opportunity to foster relationships with all the participants and potentially to determine your own career path,” Penn College President Michael Reed said in opening remarks to the students.

“Public service should reflect the collective best instincts of society, and I commend all who commit to the betterment of men through the public service,” he said.

“This is the largest group that we’ve ever had, with 18 different school districts and five counties involved,” Yaw said.

A key focus of the seminar was to further the students’ understanding of viewpoints other than their own.

“They’re going to learn a little bit about negotiation, that there are people with different opinions, and that’s all part of the legislative process,” the Senator said.

Asked about the importance of such an event, Yaw said that there can be a disconnect in how people believe government works, versus the reality of the process.

“I think we have a serious deficit in people understanding how government works. We’ve gotten away from civics and things like that in high school. We don’t teach that anymore, about the structure of the government,” he explained.

“This is maybe one small part to get people interested in that, to have some recognition of how difficult it is to get something done,” Yaw said.

“An awful lot of people say, ‘well, why don’t you just just do this? Well, that’s not quite the way it works,” he stressed.

“In any legislature in Harrisburg, the magic number is 129, that’s 26 senators, 102 representatives and the governor. That’s how many people it takes to get anything done,” he said.

“When you explain that to people, it’s like, ‘well, we didn’t know that.’ So what we try to do is just instill a little bit with the kids as the way to start,” Yaw said, noting how fulfilling it is to see students who have attended these seminars continue their interest in civic work down the road.

Students attending the seminar were broken up into groups, acting as committees in order to form legislation during the morning session before coming together after lunch to debate and vote on the bills as a full senate.

All of the 12 pieces of mock legislation tackled by the students revolved around real world issues ranging from recreational marijuana legalization to bullying prevention and accountability to protection of children from secondhand smoke in vehicles.

“I really enjoyed the discussions in the committee sessions this morning. There’s a lot of people who clearly did a lot of research into this stuff and they’re very knowledgeable,” Montoursville senior Sean Rehn said.

“I came into this with a lot of questions and I left with all of them answered. I think my group made some great amendments, and everyone’s been really friendly. It’s been a great experience,” she said.

“I think it’s cool that we’re high school students coming together and trying to replicate what they do in Congress,” said South Williamsport junior Althea Street.

“It’s nice to have the people who are guiding us in the rooms and giving their own insight into what we should be talking about, focused on and worried about when we’re trying to amend the bills that we have,” Street said.

A highlight for many of the students was getting the opportunity to work with students that come from different parts of the area.

“I think this was an amazing opportunity. I think I took a lot from it by interacting with other people and learning more about our government. It’s also really fun to come and collaborate,” Rihanna Arredondo, a junior from Montgomery said, adding that she looked at the seminar as a chance to consider her future endeavors

“I wanted to learn more about myself, and I wanted to see what career options were available for me in the future after I graduate,” she said.

The seminar brought together local leaders such as Lycoming County Judge Ryan Gardner, and state Reps. Jamie Flick, R-South Williamsport and Joe Hamm, R-Hepburn Township, as well as several state officials to act as advisers to the students.

“This is a really exciting opportunity for young people to work together, to think about growing issues, but also learn the value of collaboration and problem solving as a group,” said Nancy Walker, secretary for the state Department of Labor and Industry.

“These are just wonderful and important skills and I’m so appreciative that Senator Yaw is doing this in the area,” Walker said.

“This is fantastic because our kids are the future of the Commonwealth, and I’m thrilled to be here to be able to talk to them and share a little bit about how government works,” state Treasurer Stacy Garrity said.

“What I always like to impress upon them is if a rural girl from Bradford County can spend 30 years in the Army, become a vice president at a large international corporation and then run for a statewide office, then they can do anything,” Garrity said.

City Mayor Derek Slaughter was encouraged by the large group of youth so invested in learning more about the legislative process.

“I think it’s fantastic anytime you can engage the youth, particularly the ones that either are a voting age or getting ready to be a voting age in this process, so they understand and have a foundation on which our government works. I don’t think you can overstate that,” he said.

“So to have this many kids here from all around the region, and so many high schools represented, and for Senator Yaw to put this on, it’s just, it’s a great day,” Slaughter said.

“It’s a great day for the kids to learn about government and all the particulars. It’s a real life process, because learning about how bills are introduced, how they’re amended and ultimately passed or not passed, and that whole process of real life lobbyists and interest groups and how they play into the equation,” the mayor said.

“It’s wonderful to see so many kids engaged,” Slaughter said.