Museum Program Features Students and Local Officials

The Second program of the Voices and Votes Smithsonian Traveling exhibit was held on Tuesday night, May 19, at the Museum at the Bighorns.

Carrie Ida Edinger Museum Director, explained about the program.

The local representatives who attended were Chris Schock, Mayor of Clearmont; Ranchester Mayor Peter Clark; Lonnie Wright, Sheridan County Commissioner and Rich Bridger, Mayor of Sheridan.

Karen Wagner, SHS Social Studies teacher, introduced the We the People program.

The program encourages critical thinking, civil discussion, and active participation in democracy. Wagner said that the SHS team has proud tradition of excellence, having won several competitions.

We the People students were: Ryder Charest, Gabe Perkinsn and Leah Johnson who asked about local government structures; Jack Hubert, Hannah Mowry and Megan Romero, with questions about campaigning and Larissa Hoffmann, Lukas Schreiber, Tyler Mline, and Faith Hinton had questions about the voting process.

Ryder Charest asked the first question, and Mayor Schock answered.

It was general consensus of the panel was that controversy does get the community involved.

The first group also asked how Wyoming lobbying compare to national lobbying, and Wright had this to say,

One question was about funding, and the panel talked about the various ways that towns, cities and counties are funded in Wyoming. The panel talked about taxes and user fees, as some of the ways that towns use for funding.

Jack Hubert asked the panel about campaign funding and where the majority of their financial support originates. The panelist admitted that, although a lot of money could be spent campaigning, they didn’t spend much.

Rich Bridger started the discussion followed by Chris Schock, Peter Clark and Lonnie Wright.

In the second group, Megan Romero asked, “How do you balance your messaging to appeal to long term resident’s vs newer arrivals?

Bridger had this to say about Sheridan

Clark added that there was a difference between the old and new residents in Ranchester.

Schock added that Clearmont doesn’t really have new people moving into town.

The program was informative, and a good way to get an insight into the local officials deal with in the towns, the city and the county, and a look into the voting system in Wyoming.

Edinger would like to thank those who turned out for the program, the We the People students and the elected officials who agreed to sit on the panel.