By Emily Gonzalez
On Monday, October 16, 2023, I visited the Pennsylvania State House. I decided to attend the excursion to the Pennsylvania State House because, as an individual who hopes to work one day as a member of the Senate, I knew that this trip would allow me to get a taste of what a career in government would look like. We were supposed to meet with Representative Schlosberg, but we are unable to meet with him due to his recent loss of his father. Nevertheless, we were welcomed to his office by his staff and taught with kindness and respect. We were able to sit in on the House session, and in fact, we were recognized before the session. In this session, we were able to witness James K. Lee, director general of the Taipei economic and cultural office in New York, express his thanks for the bipartisan support for the most recent pro-Taiwan Solution. Then we met Senator Nick Miller and were able to speak to him for a couple minutes. We were also able to sit in on the senate session. I was also able to learn about the architecture of the state house and its history. For example, the state house contains marble from Ireland and Italy. Another historical fact is that it was inspired by Michelangelo’s St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome. The one thing that I took away from this trip was the importance of representation and how the work of these representatives is crucial to our democracy. The very act of experiencing these proceedings and the work that goes into working as a congress member or a senator has energized my aspirations in the political field.
