On Tuesday, April 26, students from Clinton’s Morgan School descended on the State Capitol in Hartford, where they got a firsthand look at the workings of the 2016 Connecticut General Assembly during its regular legislative session.

The 11-member Morgan Political Club visited State Senator Art Linares, Jr., and State Representative Jesse MacLachlan, whose districts include Clinton.

“We were honored to visit them, and we spoke at length with Hartford Courant columnist and blogger Kevin Rennie, lobbyists from the Connecticut Conference of Municipalities, and lobbyists from the Connecticut Hospital Association,” said club member and Morgan senior Will Fritz. “We inquired about the state budget deficit and issues pertaining to college costs and affordability.”

The club’s visit coincided not only with the presidential primaries in Connecticut, but also with budget negotiations at the Capitol and questions about whether a deal to close the projected billion-dollar gap might be reached before midnight on May 4, when the regular legislative session adjourned. Proposed state budget cuts had called for reductions in aid to towns, including Education Cost Sharing grants, as well as cuts to hospital reimbursements. Governor Dannel Malloy’s plan also called for significant state employee layoffs, with some projections as high as 4,000.

“Our students saw firsthand the how legislators, lobbyists, and journalists interacted in a civil manner, while having often competing interests,” said Eric Bergman, the club’s advisor. “In the midst of a very contentious budget season, students witnessed how the process—while seemingly procedural and theoretical—becomes messy and disorganized.”

The Morgan Political Club, Bergman said, “provides students with more than a few opportunities to engage in the political process on federal, state, and local levels. Our tradition of hosting nonpartisan state and local debates organized and run by students is one example of how young people are taking control of their lives and their future political empowerment.”

This past fall, The Morgan Political Club hosted a three-way debate with candidates vying for the office of first selectman of Clinton. During their recent visit to Hartford, club members invited Linares and MacLachlan (both republicans are seeking re-election in November) to participate in their fall debates at the new Morgan School, which opens its doors in August.

“Debates are organized and run solely by high school students,” said Bergman.

At the Capitol, he noted, his students observed that resolutions are “patchwork, not neatly wrapped proclamations. Students in this club do not accept the sterile and generic; they seek honest answers. For democracy to survive, they must challenge the status quo. As the saying goes, ‘Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty.’”