J4NG students tour Nevada Legislature, meet governor

About 50 students in the Jobs for Nevada’s Graduates program visited Carson City on Tuesday and received a personal tour of the Capitol and Nevada Supreme Court.

They met with local elected officials, joined them on the Assembly and Senate floors during sessions and had the opportunity to speak with Gov. Joe Lombardo.

Executive Director René Cantú said the Youth Legislative Day serves a twofold purpose that attempts to educate his students and the legislators.

“The most important thing about today is giving students the opportunity to learn how our government works so that they can aspire hopefully to become leaders for the state of Nevada,” Cantu said. “The other thing is our organization and agency depends on funding from the Nevada State Legislature, so it’s important for them to see the quality of our work that the agency is doing with students to help them prepare for the future, for their careers, graduate.”

J4NG is an education-based nonprofit with an objective to help underserved youth to achieve graduation and help them become college- or career-ready through workplace training, structured support systems through specialists and access to various pathways. The program serves more than 3,300 students statewide and has a 95.8% graduation rate for 2021 compared to Nevada’s total 81.3% for all students.

J4NG senior Skylar Dodd-Bailor said she enjoyed the experience.

“I’d really like to know about the history of Nevada, especially since it’s a place I’ve been born and I’ve been raised at,” she said. “I have a lot of family who work in here. I’d like to know everything that all these people do and why it’s important to see if it’s something I can do.”

J4NG hosts Youth Legislative Day each session, providing students a chance to interact with elected officials, follow legislators during Assembly or Senate sessions and hear bills read into the record and talk to their leaders about the J4NG program.

The leaders also learn from the students’ experiences and needs and celebrate their accomplishments in the process.

Assemblywoman Shondra Summers-Armstrong, D-Las Vegas, said it’s “critical” for students to enter the building to see the work of the legislators and recalled being amazed to reconnect with a young woman who served as an intern with her in 1994.

“She’s teaching other young people, and this is where it begins, but if we have a closed heart and a closed mind and we don’t believe that we have an obligation to reach back, our people don’t get the chance,” she said. “We are required, in my opinion, to reach back, and to your organization.”

Students also were recognized for visiting the Legislature by members of the Assembly.

Later in the afternoon, Lombardo gathered with the group and listened to the students’ stories and speeches some had written. He encouraged them to become involved in state government and enjoyed humorous moments about their plans or about high school in general.

Lombardo said after meeting with the students he thought back to his own youth and what it was like to be told to do something if he were unhappy with his circumstances.

“I constantly would complain about stuff until someone came to me and said, ‘Well, do something about it and get outside the proverbial ring and step out on the skinny branch and do something about it,’ and the fact that they’re here and educating themselves and having an understanding on why we do what we do as a society needs to be commended,” Lombardo said.