WINONA, MN – Students from several area schools in grades 6 – 12 will participate in the annual Winona Model Legislature at the Tau Center on Winona State University's West Campus. High school students will serve as members of the Minnesota House of Representatives, State Senate, and Governor’s Office, and middle school students will serve as pages. Minnesota Secretary of State Steve Simon will swear in the student legislators and deliver the opening address at this year's event on November 20. Other special guests include Representative Melissa Hortman, Speaker of the Minnesota House of Representatives; Rick Krueger, the President of the MN Legislative Society; and members of the MN Legislative Society. The event will be held at WSU's Tau Center on the West Campus on Wednesday, November 20 and Thursday, November 21 from 9:00 am to 3:00 pm both days.
“The model legislature provides students the opportunity to step into the shoes of lawmakers and experience how laws are actually made," said Pelowski, who has taught the Teaching Social Studies in the Secondary course for WSU for the past 25 years, and has been the advisor to the Model Legislature for 44 years.
In preparation for becoming Social Studies teachers, Winona State University students in Pelowski’s Teaching Social Studies in the Secondary will serve as committee administrators, clerks, and assist the Governor’s office, as well as organize the entirety of the Model Legislature program and create the Bill Book and official website. Students researched actual bills that will be heard during the upcoming legislative session during the formation of their bills, which are now posted on the WSU Model Legislature website.
The 2019 Model Legislature is free, and parents and members of the public are invited to attend. Participating schools include Winona Senior High School, Winona Middle School, Cotter High School, Austin High School, Bluffview Montessori School, Rushford-Peterson High School, Minnesota State College Southeast and Winona State University. If you have any questions, please contact Rep. Pelowski at (651) 296-8637, or by e-mail at rep.gene.pelowski@house.mn.
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