Seattle Youth Commission
From Seattle. gov:
The most important quality of a Youth Commissioner is a strong desire to work for positive change on behalf of young people in Seattle. No prior experience with local government is necessary, but you do need to be between the ages of 13 and 19. Priority is given to ensuring representation of as many schools, demographic groups, and neighborhoods as possible.
Full Commission meetings will take place every Wednesday from 4:00 to 5:30 pm at City Hall (600 4th Ave) during the school year, and every other Wednesday during the summer. To be on the Commission you'll need to be able to commit to the program from June of 2012 to June of 2013, including two optional but highly recommended confirmation hearings with the City Council, at 9:30 am on May 17th and 2:00 pm on May 21st.
In addition to this application form, in order for your application to be considered you'll also need to have two people who know you well complete reference forms on your behalf (online and print versions are available to the right). March 30th is the early decision application deadline, and April 13th is the cutoff date to submit an application.
If you have all of your application materials in by March 30th you'll be guaranteed an interview; if you submit your application between March 30th and April 13th it's likely that we'll only have enough time to interview top candidates. If you have any questions, or if you’re unable to submit your application by April 13th, please contact Sol Villarreal at 206-427-3062 or sol.villarreal@seattle.gov.
The most important quality of a Youth Commissioner is a strong desire to work for positive change on behalf of young people in Seattle. No prior experience with local government is necessary, but you do need to be between the ages of 13 and 19. Priority is given to ensuring representation of as many schools, demographic groups, and neighborhoods as possible.
Full Commission meetings will take place every Wednesday from 4:00 to 5:30 pm at City Hall (600 4th Ave) during the school year, and every other Wednesday during the summer. To be on the Commission you'll need to be able to commit to the program from June of 2012 to June of 2013, including two optional but highly recommended confirmation hearings with the City Council, at 9:30 am on May 17th and 2:00 pm on May 21st.
In addition to this application form, in order for your application to be considered you'll also need to have two people who know you well complete reference forms on your behalf (online and print versions are available to the right). March 30th is the early decision application deadline, and April 13th is the cutoff date to submit an application.
If you have all of your application materials in by March 30th you'll be guaranteed an interview; if you submit your application between March 30th and April 13th it's likely that we'll only have enough time to interview top candidates. If you have any questions, or if you’re unable to submit your application by April 13th, please contact Sol Villarreal at 206-427-3062 or sol.villarreal@seattle.gov.
Comments
Who knew that Chile already has the terrible public education conditions that we here in the US seem to be rushing to embrace?
From the article:
"...The student movement exposed the [Chilean President's]Piñera Way as business as usual — if public education was virtually abolished under Pinochet in the ’80s, his successors had done nothing to bring it back.
Just 40 percent of Chilean children receive a free secondary-school education, in underfinanced public schools; the rest attend partly subsidized charter or private schools. To finance their university educations, most students take out bank loans, which saddle them and their families with years of debt. Piñera defended Chile’s educational system by calling education 'a consumer good.' Vallejo countered, saying that education was a fundamental right and that 'for more than 30 years,' entrepreneurs had 'speculated and grown wealthy off the dreams and expectations of thousands of young people and Chilean families.'
...A few months after the protests began, President Piñera spoke from the steps of La Moneda. 'We would all like education, health care and many other things to be free,' he said, 'but when all is said and done, nothing in life is free. Someone has to pay.'
'Obviously someone has to pay,' Vallejo retorted, 'but there’s no reason why it must be families financing between 80 and 100 percent of it.' Why not the state — through taxes on large corporations, the nationalization of resources, a reduction in financing for the military?"
To protest this privatized system of education, students of all ages are marching in the streets (and getting tear-gassed, shot with water cannons and rubber bullets, and going off to jail. They have occupied their high schools for months at a time.
I hope THIS country's youth can take action against privatization BEFORE it gets as bad as Chile's. That would a good, good thing.