Christian Lowe, a Cate School junior from Santa Barbara, recently attended the National Young Leaders Conference in Washington. The week-long conference gave him the opportunity to explore the three branches of government and deepen his understanding of current issues.
On the first full day of the conference, Lowe participated in a role-play simulation, and took on the role of a real-life adviser to the president in a fictional administration. He had the opportunity to advise this president during a fictional international conflict. That afternoon, the group visited the Korean War Veterans Memorial, the Lincoln Memorial and the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.
The next day, Lowe and his peers traveled to the Capitol and sat in the actual chairs used by lawmakers while listening to an opening address delivered from the floor of the House of Representatives. He then met with representatives, senators and staffers who provided a glimpse of life on Capitol Hill. That evening, the young scholars participated in a simulation of the role of the U.S. Supreme Court. Each student played the role of justices, attorneys, petitioners and respondents as they debated constitutional rights based off the real-life case of Arizona v. Johnson.
Lowe also had the opportunity to participate in a panel discussion with the media. The panel represented various news media sources and engaged in a question and answer session with the young scholars. Following the panel, they students attended town hall discussions on the future of energy and immigrations laws.
On the final day of the conference, Lowe and his peers took part in the Model Congress simulation. After a morning of intense debate, negotiation and lobbying, Lowe voted on each of several amendments. After all the hard work of the Model Congress, he enjoyed an afternoon of culture and history at the Jefferson Memorial and Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial as well as a night of fun at a farewell dinner dance.
Lowe is the son of Pauline and Marc Lowe of Santa Barbara.
Don Orth is communications director at Cate School.