NHS Students Talk Politics With Chris Lyddy

By Eliza Hallabeck

Newtown High School students got a chance to talk local and national politics last week when 106th District Democratic candidate Chris Lyddy visited the school for a special presentation.

Other local politicians who are running for positions this year were asked to speak to the students, and Will Rodgers, the Republican candidate for the 106th District, has said he will visit the school on an unspecified date after October 20, according to Candace Dietter, chair for the Social Studies Department at NHS. Both contenders are members of Newtown’s Legislative Council.

“First, I think we need to talk about what you can do as students to get involved in the community,” said Mr Lyddy to the packed lecture room.

Ms Dietter, Jason Edwards, and Kirsten Hardy’s Social Studies students all attended the event.

“I am a 2001 graduate of Newtown High School,” Mr Lyddy said while he addressed the students. He told them stories about giving teachers a run for their money, and remembering how the students in his class were the first students to walk into the last addition to the high school, which was the part of the school the students were sitting in to hear the presentation.

Before Mr Lyddy came to the school, the students had to submit questions to their teachers that they wanted him to answer. Ms Dietter also threw in a few questions.

The first question Mr Lyddy pulled up and read from a card was, What issue are you most passionate about?

“Coming back [to Newtown from graduate school] I realized something a little bit different,” said Mr Lyddy. “We in Connecticut have a bit of a problem.”

Jobs are being outsourced, he said, and it is hard for youth to come back to the state after school, because of the high cost of living. “We need to make Connecticut a little bit more attractive,” he said.

Ms Dietter also asked Mr Lyddy to respond to the Republican Candidate for President John McCain’s choice for a running mate, and the students laughed in response to the question.

 Mr Lyddy attended Salve Regina University, in Newport, R.I., for his undergraduate degree, and he continued on to study at the University of Pennsylvania’s School of Social Policy and Practice.

“I care about people,” said Mr Lyddy to the students. “I care about the families in Newtown, and we need to make sure we have well educated people coming back to Newtown.”

The students were encouraged by Mr Lyddy to use what they have in town, especially the education they are being given. “Without the teachers I had here in Newtown, I wouldn’t have been compelled on to my Ivy League education,” said Mr Lyddy.

“Connecting to the skills that he learned here, I think, was important for the students,” said Ms Dietter. She added that she was grateful that Mr Lyddy did not politic while speaking to the students.

“The group was large,” said Ms Dietter, “but for those students who are interested in politics, it was good for them.”