Students get "hands on" experience

It’s not often high schoolers get to have a pizza party with the Governor,but 19 students from across Iowa did just that last night. It’s part of aproject designed to give students a closer look at state government and tolink them up with the people who make things happen.Iowa Secretary of State Chet Culver is meeting with the students through theCapitol Project. He says the students will act as legislators for part ofthe time. Culver says they’ve been taught about the legislative process oftaking a bill from its “idea stage” all the way to putting it before thestate’s chief executive.Culver says he’s very concerned about how students view politics and theprocess of voting. He says during last year’s elections, only 11 percent ofstudents between the ages of 18 and 19 voted, in the U-S and in Iowa. Hesays the 18-to-24 age group has the worst voting record at only 15 percent.The 19 students are from: Mason City, Sioux City (3), Independence, LeMars,New Liberty (2), Carlisle, Des Moines (2), Salix, Dougherty, Sergeant Bluff,Lorimor, Wilton, Coralville, Guttenburg and Luana.