by Katie Russell
Congressmen Mark Meadows came to Brevard High School to discuss how to build social capital and how American government works with students in Mr. McDaris’ Civics and Economics class.
Meadows’ visited Brevard High School because the entire Civics and Economics class called his office asking to meet personally with the congressman. Meadows made an appearance a month later.
He discussed how the government worked, and he also showed an interest in the students’ club, Social Vanguard. Meadows talked about how to build social capital in a community and the importance of doing so. Social capital can be defined as the glue that holds a community together, and to increase social capital, it means that you increase the closeness in the community by helping other people and being supportive of other people.
In an effort to build social capital with Brevard High students, Meadows took a ‘selfie’ with the students who came to listen to him speak, and promised that he would assist in whatever public service project the Social Vanguard club plans to do in the future.
Students also got a first hand account on how bills become laws and how a political campaign is run. Meadows assigned roles to students to help students better understand these circumstances. He answered questions students had about how to get more involved in politics and explained that building social capital is a key component of campaigning and working as an elected official.
The key component Meadows wanted to get across to students was to get involved with politics as early as possible and to encourage others to go out and vote. That the most important thing a person can do is to vote, and stay in contact with their representative, to give both positive and negative feedback. Without feedback the government can not correctly serve the people they’re representing and it is important to stay informed and remain active in whatever election is happening, whether it is local or national.