State lawmakers give AP government students look behind political curtain

But even though she’s still waiting to cast her first ballot, Hizny was able to make her voice heard by local lawmakers and learn more about legislation when state Rep. Linda Serrato, D-Santa Fe, and Sen. Elizabeth “Liz” Stefanics, D-Cerrillos, dropped by ATC’s AP U.S. Government and Politics class Wednesday.

Students said the visit offered them an opportunity to get to know their legislators and provided a glimpse into what a life working in politics might look like.

“There’s a little bit of a disconnect, especially with age” between students and elected officials, said Lily Rittmeyer, another of about 50 students participating in Wednesday’s question-and-answer session. “So I think having the opportunity to get young voices and opinions out there and involved in our legislation is very important,” she said.

The classroom visit was an opportunity for the students to ask legislators from the Santa Fe delegation questions they had about their backgrounds, how the legislative process works, important upcoming legislation and more, said ATC Principal Jason Morgan.

Students had compiled a list of questions, but they were welcome to ask anything they pleased, said Robert Mathis, the history and government teacher whose class legislators joined.

Although discussion remained respectful, students asked the legislators about important subjects like the influence of oil and gas lobbyists on elected officials, abortion access in the state, how to improve New Mexico’s low-ranking education system and the impact of political polarization on bipartisan efforts.

Serrato said she admired the younger generation’s willingness to dispute elected officials on important issues.

“I was super deferential to leaders. ... What I love about this generation is, no one does that, and you shouldn’t,” she said.

For some students, the experience allowed them to connect faces to often-nebulous governmental systems and legislation.

“Especially as young people, it feels like the people that are running our government are very separate, just kind of this entity that we don’t ever get to interact with,” Hizny said.

“Getting to talk to them face-to-face will make them feel more human and make the government, to me, feel more like something that I can connect to,” she said.

For other students, the discussion provided an opportunity to imagine themselves as lawmakers.

Rittmeyer and fellow senior Chanelle Jaeger, both of whom are interested in careers in law and politics, said they were looking forward to the legislators’ input.

Serrato encouraged the high schoolers to envision life as a member of the Legislature, even though, per the New Mexico Constitution, they’ll have to wait a few years until they run for the state House or Senate.

“Truly, the Legislature is made up of so many different people, and ... you need that,” she said. “You need people of all different backgrounds to come in and give it a shot. If you’re out of high school and you want to run, absolutely. If you want to run against me, sure, it’s fine. It’s good to have these different voices because you never know what is the right one for a district.”

And young people don’t have to start in the Legislature, Stefanics added. All sorts of elected positions are available for young people to get involved.

“You could run for anything. Start thinking about the city council, the school board, the county commission. You don’t have to start at the top,” Stefanics said.

For Jaeger, getting perspectives from women legislators was particularly important.

“Female representation is really important to me, and today, it’s female legislators,” she said. ”I think that’s really important, and I’m really excited to hopefully get some questions along the lines of what your female perspective is in politics.”

And Jaeger and other students did get in some questions about what it’s like to be a woman in politics. Stefanics described her experience as the first openly lesbian member of the New Mexico Legislature during her first term in the 1990s. Serrato explained how her identity as a working mom has impacted her perspective on issues, including paid family leave and access to abortion and reproductive health care.

“As a woman in politics — or anyone in politics, truly — you have to have your own North Star of what you want to be and what you want to achieve,” Serrato said.

This won’t be the last time legislators can expect to see ATC students during this year’s session, said history and humanities teacher Joaquin Martinez. The AP Government seniors are planning to attend opening day at the Roundhouse Jan. 17 to offer their opinions on upcoming bills to legislators.

This story has been amended to reflect the following correction. A previous version of this story misspelled Maia Hizny's last name.