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Kitchen Intern Marley, Alumni Matthew, Media Intern Rose, Kitchen Intern Kat

Ever dread the feeling of getting up at 7 in the morning for school? That’s how I felt when I had to get up to meet at 7:50 A. M. on a Sunday for Action Day in Olympia. Yup, I said it correctly on a Sunday.  I arrived at Youngstown and everyone was waiting in the car, with the exception of past intern, now an alumni Matthew. Of course Matthew would be the last one we were waiting for. We waited for about 10 minutes before calling him. But my instincts told me Matthew was still sleeping, and what do you know he was still sleeping. We ended up driving to his house to pick him up and we had a packed car full of interns. The car ride there seemed pretty quick since everyone pretty much knocked out.

So what exactly is Action Day some of you may be wondering? It’s where a variety of youth organizations from around Washington travel to Olympia to meet with LYAC (Legislative Youth Advisory Council) and they advocate for problems in their communities and what acts they would like to see pass.

So we arrived around 9:30 and got settled in. We grabbed breakfast and got seated. Quickly after, the staff introduced themselves and we played an icebreaker. Everyone had to take off their right shoe and place it in the front of the room. Next each person had to grab another person’s shoe and try to find that person to form a group of 4. I finally found my shoe and had a group of four. We all shared what organization we were with, what school we went to, and little info about us. I’d have to say this icebreaker was pretty weird but it was a great way to get started. Then we went on a tour to get to know more familiar with the legislative building.

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Another icebreaker. FEEST mentor Roberto struggling to get the cookie in his mouth.. Too hilarious.

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Our tour group was able to rub the back of MLK’s head for good luck!

Next, the presentations started and each group went up one by one to introduce their organization and advocated for problems in their communities. FEEST interns were getting pretty nervous especially me since it was my first time ever doing something like this. We were getting closer and closer to presenting. And before you know it we were up. We first explained what FEEST does as a whole.

So what is FEEST? Well it is an after school program held at Chief Sealth International High School on Tuesdays and Evergreen on Wednesdays. We meet once a week from 3:30-6:30. FEEST teaches the youth about cooking and healthy eating. In addition to learning how to cook we gain valuable techniques in the kitchen. FEEST also strengthens youths leadership skills by challenging them every week and advocacy potential. Once we are done cooking we gather around the table and eat as a family.

Next we presented the problems we face in our communities which were a safe healthy environment and youth voice advocacy. The two acts we supported were restoring WSDA “Farm to School & Small Farms Programs” in which we had 2 FEEST interns work together with WSDA to raise awareness of the salad bars in schools by making a video to reach students statewide, and restoring full benefits for families on the State Food Assistance Program in which almost all the FEEST interns were affected by. Kat and Marley especially went really deep into this problem. Both Kat and Marley’s family were cut off of food stamps because the states recognized that because their parents got a second job that they were well off. In reality, both parents got a second job to keep up with paying the bills, rent, etc. Surely enough we received a response we did not expect. Some representatives were really stoked when we mentioned the salad bar video which really livened up the room. People were so interested questions kept coming and coming. Being up there for 20 minutes wasn’t so bad.

FEEST interns advocating for problems in their communities.

After all the presentations we had a lunch break for about an hour. During this break we had a few people come up to FEEST to learn more and we even gained some organizations that would like to work with FEEST in the future. Once lunch was over, we learned how a bill gets passed and how it becomes a law. Let me tell you this, this was about an hour long and it was very confusing. But it was interesting.

Now it was time for the workshops. The first workshop we went to was interesting. We learned more advocating and what it really takes to make a change. We also played a few games. One of them was making a rocket ship in 5 minutes with the given supplies, and I must say we did a pretty awesome job. Who agrees?

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Finished product of the rocket ship.

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FEEST intern Kat couldn’t resist making a bird while the representative was talking.

Now it was time for the next workshop but since the FEEST interns were a little bit too tired, Robbie insisted on going a walk. So the interns + Robbie and Cristina went out for a walk for about 20 minutes. We came back and decided to watch the LYAC in action discussing the acts they should pass. It was pretty intense but it was interesting to see how their meetings went.

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On our walk.

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Intern Marley sleeping with every chance he has.

Once both workshops were done, everyone gathered in the main room and played one last game before dinner. For this game we had everyone that was born in the same month team together and make a chant. I must say the chants everyone came up with were pretty awesome and creative. Now it was finally time for dinner and we had burritos with chips and so much more.

Waking up at 7 in the morning on a Sunday was definitely worth it. I was able to advocate for problems in my community and I learned about problems in other communities that the youth suffer from. Not only was I able to advocate, but I met some really great people along the way and even strengthened my relationship with people I already knew.