Atlanta, GA – Over 200 Trail Life USA youth and American Heritage Girls youth and their families gathered for the fourth annual Trail Life & AHG Day At The Georgia State Capitol on March 11th, 2019.
Sponsored by Representative John Carson and organized by Marvin Burr, Trail Life USA, and Elizabeth Wright, American Heritage Girls, this one day event is designed to provide an educational experience for the youth, teaching them about civic responsibility, state history, and educating them on topics that they should be aware of.
The morning session featured two guest speakers – Cole Muzio, the president of the Family Policy Foundation of Georgia; and Representative Ed Setzler, the author of House Bill 481 also known as the Living Infants Fairness and Equality (LIFE) Act (link to more info).
They spoke to the group about issues relating to religious freedom and the sanctity of life. One topic that was touched on was the importance of every individual to speak with their elected representatives about matters of importance (like religious freedom, pro-life matters, and other issues) and to show their support for them.
After the morning session, the group was able to get a group photo with Governor Brian Kemp.
Then, everyone broke out into small groups to do self-guided tours of the interior and the grounds of State Capitol as well as do a scavenger hunt on the 4th floor.
Just before lunch, the Georgia State Patrol brought out two of their vehicles to allow the youth to look around as well as answered questions and took photos with the youth. We are very grateful to the hard work of the Georgia State Patrol and their willingness to take time to educate our youth.
Lunch was catered by Chick-fil-a and sponsored by several individuals. Volunteers helped set up the room, serve lunch, and clean up.
Our afternoon session was a blast with a visit from the Georgia State Patrol K9 Unit, from Mark Williams, from Senator Bruce Thompson, and the Commissioner for the Department of Natural Resources.
The Georgia State Patrol K9 Unit brought Chase a two-year-old german shepherd mix. They demonstrated how he searches and answered many questions from the youth.
Senator Bruce Thompson talked about the two bills he is currently working on and how it relates to the group, particularly as many are home schooling families. Senate Bill 163 (aka. “Tim Tebow Act”) would authorize “home study students to participate in extracurricular and interscholastic activities in the student’s resident public school system” (link to more info). Senate Bill 165 would make changes to the state high school athletics organization to address a number of key issues in the high school athletics system (link to more info).
Mark Williams is always fun to have. His passion for the outdoors is contagious. He talked to the group about the variety of natural recourse that Georgia has, including the fishing, hunting, camping, hiking, and protected areas. He did a Q/A with the youth answering questions from what’s your favorite state park to how we could get involved in protecting the wildlife.
The event closed out with a door prize drawing with four prizes for the Trail Life USA youth and four for the American Heritage Girl youth.
We had over 200 attendees from…
Trail Life USA Troop in attendance: GA-0110, GA-0594 GA-2016, GA-0184, GA-1828, GA-1517, GA-0109, GA-0456, GA-1227, GA-1842, GA-1613
American Heritage Girl Troops in attendance: GA-0110, GA-0594, GA-2016, GA-2911, GA-2212, GA-0315, GA-0098, GA-1611, GA-1917, GA-2900, GA-0210, GA-0408