The bus going to Albany Left at 7 from One MetroTech Center and it arrived in Albany at 11. We went into the building and were guided to a room where all the lobbyists were sitting. A few different people made speeches, a parent, a teacher, and a student, about the problems that underfunding caused and the ways that the students were paying the price. After that we got in line to go through security were the group chanted, I found it very interesting that about half of the chants were in Spanish. Security took a long time get through but once we got through we went to what was called the war room. From there many smaller groups broke off to talk to the Assemblymember of their district. Since we did not have a district that we were in a woman with AQENY gave us pins and pamphlets. The pins were in separate envelopes that were each labeled with the name of the assemblymember we were to give them to and their office number. On each pin was the amount of money owed to the schools in that assemblymembers district. We would walk into their office ask them to wear one of the pins at the state of the state and give them the information packet. Then we met at assemblywoman Nolan’s office for a lobby. As we sat in on the lobby, people brought up problems and demands for the schools in Long Island City. Nolan, related to stories that people told all while avoiding concerns and questions. After that, we got on the bus and went home. Overall we learned about how lobbies worked, the struggles of addressing problems and funding, and a little bit about the chaos that is made on the path to change, no matter how small.
