By Journalist Rose DeWeese (OSU)
What can you do to make Oklahoma a better place? That is the question guest speaker Vice Chief Justice Rowe asked the students of the Oklahoma Intercollegiate Legislature organization as the competition commenced this evening.
Rowe said as individuals, we each have the opportunity to make a difference to better our community and leave a lasting positive impression on the people we meet, places we go, and actions we take.
No matter what path we choose in life, Vice Chief Justice Rowe hopes that young people will strive to be the best in their field. No matter what role they occupy he said he hopes that in putting forth their best effort they may together build a better Oklahoma.
How exactly do these young Oklahomans plan to do this?
Senator Smith of OSU shared her insight on how she plans on making Oklahoma a better place and how she believes OIL can help to aid in making that change:
“I think by writing mock legislation like my bill that will be presented soon is a great way to get practice of making real change in Oklahoma.
For example, my bill will be performing stocking in Oklahoma, and giving victims greater access to protections. I think it’s a small change, but it will have a great impact on people across the state.
I think this will create a widespread change for the domestic violence field, the stalking field, the sexual awareness’s field that stocking is a serious crime and it needs to be treated as such and this will have a great wave in many advocacy circles across the State,” (Smith).
Representative Carlos Vazquez of ORU who participates in Moot Court and the House Moot House shared his perspective on how OIL specifically helps is helping to make Oklahoma a better place:
“I think it gives a lot of students an example of what the Oklahoma legislative system looks like and it really allows us to hone in on our collaboration with people who have different perspectives than us. It’s really beneficial in a lot of ways by making Oklahoma more inclusive, making Oklahoma have a brighter future by adopting bills that make the state better,” (Vazquez).