WASHINGTON — Starting next month, more than two dozen middle and high school students from Prince William County will get a chance to shadow a Virginia delegate one-on-one and see the legislative process up close.
The “Future Delegate Program,” is a unique opportunity to give students a taste of what it’s like to be a lawmaker and might inspire them to think about a career in public service, according to the program’s creator, Del. Richard Anderson, a Republican who represents Virginia’s 51st District.
“I’ve been involved in so many youth programs that I just see the value of mentorship. I just think it’s important that we mentor people,” he told WTOP.
Anderson, who spent 30 years in the Air Force before he retired as a colonel and became a Virginia state legislator, said he’s all about inspiring and mentoring the next generation of lawmakers.
“Just as the name implies — ‘Future Delegate Program’– my whole idea is to encourage them to someday run for office or at lease choose a career path that brings them into public service,” he said.
Anderson started the program five years ago.
This year his program will be hosting about 30 7th to 12th graders from the district he represents in Prince William County. The students from his program will start visiting him in Richmond a week after the new Virginia General Assembly session gets underway on Jan. 11.
The students will get a feel for the legislative process over an 8-10 hour “immersion period” in Richmond, he said.
Each student gets the opportunity to spend an entire day shadowing the delegate “one at a time so that there is close interpersonal time where I can really show them firsthand the innermost workings of the legislative process,” Anderson said. “They go to all of my subcommittee meetings, my committee meetings, the full daily session of the House of Delegates. If I have to go brief one of my bills in front of a House or a Senate committee, they will accompany me.”
The program is open to students from Anderson’s district. Students are welcomed to apply for the program regardless if they go to public school or are home-schooled — or whether they come a family that is Republican, Democrat or Independent, Anderson said.
About 200 students have participated in the mentoring program, including this year’s crop.
And the feedback from his graduates: “100-percent approval,” Anderson said. “There has not been one single person who has said that it was a waste of their time.”
One of the graduates from his program is Manassas 7th grader Riley Kotlus, who was just chosen to be a House page for the upcoming General Assembly session. The Virginia House of Delegates Page Program is highly competitive and Kotlus beat out 37 other students statewide for the spot.
“I am very excited about this opportunity,” Kotlus said in a news release. “I have always been interested in politics and government and even though I will be doing clerical duties, I will have a front-row seat to history.”
Kotlus said he found out about the Page Program while he was shadowing Anderson during the 2016 legislative session. He is the second graduate from Anderson’s “Future Delegate” program to become a house page.
