Did you know there are 17 legislators in the Board of Legislators? Each represents different towns in Westchester. Well my class recently went on a field trip there. We got to bang the gavel and so much more. You will learn about my experiences and what I learned at the Board of Legislators trip.
During the trip I had lots of favorite parts. My first favorite aspect from the Board of Legislators trip was talking to the legislator who represented our town and a few others. His name was Benjamin Boyken. I liked talking to him because it was cool to see an important person. I learned so many things from him. When our tour guide said “ you will be able to see your legislator Benjamin Boyken,” I’m surprised because I thought we were just touring the building and what it was like to be a legislator. When I heard her say that I thought when is he going to see us? When he talked to us had a lot of questions answered by my classmates like “How did you become a legislator?” He stayed with us until we went into the next room and he went back to work. Another aspect I liked at the Board of Legislators trip was the mock board meeting in the chamber room. The chamber room is where the legislators gather together and talk about important things such as voting on laws. That is what my class did except it wasn’t real. There was a chairperson and two clerks from my class who were picked to do it. A chairperson is someone who hosts the meeting and bangs the gravel and is the person who calls on the legislators when they want to say something. The clerks are the people who take attendance and write down votes. We also got to sit into the seats that legislators sit in. They even had their names on a plaque on the desk. When we got into the chamber room, I was like “is this where the legislators meet?” “This is probably my favorite room yet.” The Chamber room kind of looked like an extended auditorium but instead of a stage there was a big desk up high where the chair person sits and connected to that there was a big desk lower to the floor where the clerks sit. In the Chamber room we discussed a fake law: Should we ban unhealthy foods and sodas from school cafeterias. We all got to vote and the majority said no. The last part I liked from the Board of Legislators trip was having a mock committee meeting. This was the first room we went to. Our class got split into two groups of two tables and there were two chairpersons one for each table. The chairperson for my table was Charlotte and the chairperson for the other table was Theo. We discussed if all private and public schools should wear uniforms to school. We all voted no. I was like “I would never want to wear uniforms to school.” so I voted no. These were my three favorite parts to do in the Board of Legislators trip.
There were so many surprising facts I learned at the Board of Legislators trip. The first surprising fact I learned was that Benjamin Boyken represented more than just Scarsdale. Benjamin represented Scarsdale, most of White plains, and some of Harrison. Before Benjamin Boyken told us that, I thought there were 17 different Legislators in Westchester county each representing one town. I thought Benjamin Boyken represented Scarsdale and no other towns.That was probably one of my favorite facts. Another fact I learned was that there are 1.3 million people in Westchester and 20,000 people in Scarsdale. “There are 20,000 people in Scarsdale? That’s soooo many, I thought there were way less”. The last surprising fact I liked was when you are in a board meeting people call the legislators legislator and then their first name. For example Legislator Talia. I learned this when we were in the mock committee meeting. Our tour guide told us exactly how the legislators talk and how they call each other and what they discuss. That were my three favorite facts from the Board of Legislators trip
In conclusion, the Board of Legislators trip was really fun. I had so many favorite parts and many facts that I had learned there. Have you ever gone to the Board of Legislators?
