6-14-11

Classical Seniors Meet With Governor Deval Patrick

written by Kristen Kurpiel

            On Tuesday June 14^th, Mr. Constantino, Dr. Harutunian, and 22 already-graduated seniors loaded onto a school bus dressed in ties, heels, and dress clothes, ready to meet the Governor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts at the State House. A letter written by recent graduate Abu Daniel requested the meeting several months ago, as a response to the energetic involvement and enthusiasm of Government students when working on local election campaigns.

Every student enrolled in a Government class was required to dedicate at least 18 hours working on a campaign of their choice, but several students were so interested that they overreached this goal. Many students had worked on Deval Patrick’s campaign, and others worked campaigns for Charlie Baker, Thomas McGee, or John Tierney. The students felt rewarded by helping the campaigns and some even changed their college majors to match their newfound interest. Government class discussions had been particularly engaging this year, in part due to a group of Republican students who were able to represent the opposing side of arguments precisely.

After going through security metal detectors, riding the elevator up several floors, and walking through beautiful State House hallways, the group of students arrived at the Executive Office. In the reception room they sat on gilt couches, surrounded by three-foot tall portraits of past Governors and were pleasantly surprised to find out that the Governor’s secretary was Classical graduate also.

Deval Patrick walked about with always a man by his side, a state trooper dressed in a suit. The State House was exceptionally busy that day, due to the fact that the President of the Cape Verde Islands was visiting. The front staircase was being prepared; the only time the front door is ever used at the State House is when a Governor is leaving office or when another Executive visits. Also, the usual tourists milled about, and fieldtrips of elementary schoolchildren in matching brightly colored T-shirts from all around the Boston area.

Inside the Governor’s council chambers, the group sat around a broad table to meet with the Governor and discuss the campaign experiences the students all enjoyed, as well as topics such as the success of the Cambodian Community Outreach event in Lynn that took place recently. As Dr. Harutunian pointed out, the group was just the perfect size. Each student had the chance to ask the Governor questions. Other officials stood at the back of the room, such as State Representative Steve Walsh, Senator Tom McGee, Ward Councilor Brendan Creighton, and State Representative Robert F. Fennell.

The Governor started by apologizing for the delay, as he had been scheduled to come to Classical and meet with students back in May, but the attempt had been interrupted by other business out of his control such as the tornado that hit Western Massachusetts. Governor Deval Patrick explained that this was the first elected office that he had held, and that he was led to civil service by his concern for the short term solutions seen in business that have infiltrated our government policies and also the lack of participation in citizens. Governor Deval Patrick asked the students why they thought participation in politics was so low, genuinely interesting in their ideas, as the students had been exposed to so many different political attitudes in the past months of working on campaigns. He asserted his belief “If you don’t vote for me, vote for somebody” in regards to voter participation. The Governor also agreed with the students that negative campaign advertisement is detrimental to the political system at large.

At the conclusion of the discussion, each student had a chance to get an individual picture taken with just them and the Governor. A group photo was taken also on the grand staircase. Several students brought with them a copy of Governor Deval Patrick’s memoir “A Reason to Believe”, which he signed with thoughtful personalized messages. Overall the students were very happy to meet the Governor and were captivated by his down to earth, friendly personality and his interest in the youth and their activity in local politics. The wonderful experience was topped off with pizza and soda in the student activity room as the students discussed the day.