[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 26 (Tuesday, March 4, 1997)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E366-E367]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




               LINDSAY WASHICK WINS PARADE MAGAZINE AWARD

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. PAUL E. KANJORSKI

                            of pennsylvania

                    in the house of representatives

                         Tuesday, March 4, 1997

  Mr. KANJORSKI. Mr. Speaker, I would like to honor Lindsay Washick, 
daughter of Bob Washick of Conyngham, PA, for winning first place in a 
contest sponsored by Parade Magazine and the Times-Leader newspaper of 
Wilkes-Barre, PA.
  Lindsay is a 14-year-old ninth grader at MMI preparatory school in 
Freeland, PA.
  Lindsay's article, entitled ``Our President's Greatest Challenge,'' 
was chosen from six finalists. As a reward as part of the Young 
Columbus Program, Lindsay will act as a young ambassador on a trip to 
Ireland in April.
  Lindsay is an example of the fine quality of students who are 
dedicated to learning and expanding their knowledge of the world they 
live in. The youth of today are tomorrow's future and I congratulate 
Lindsay on winning first prize.
  I am inserting her article into the Congressional Record.
  Text from Lindsay Washick:

       With November fifth long and gone, the votes have been 
     counted and tallied, and the leader of our country has been 
     decided. Mr. William J. Clinton will be our president for the 
     next four years.
       With a new term starting, many people are anxious to see 
     what he'll be concentrating the most on. Will it be drugs, 
     health care, the environment, our involvement in foreign 
     countries, or balancing the budget? All of these issues are 
     very important but every time the very important issues do 
     come up, there is always one that's overlooked--The Young 
     People of America.
       I think that the greatest challenge to our new President is 
     to be getting in touch with our young people, and getting 
     them involved.
       I just recently turned 14, and am therefore an adolescent. 
     I'm, involved in, and have a wide variety of liking, but when 
     it comes to government, and politics, I'm always the last one 
     to know and/or care. The rest of the nation is in such a 
     tizzy about everything else, that they're overlooking us too. 
     The President goes where the people go, and that's always 
     away from us. But, every now and

[[Page E367]]

     again, when we are lucky enough to be brought up, the only 
     things the politicians have to say, are, ``Don't do drugs'' 
     and ``Stay out of trouble.'' Nothing exciting about that. We 
     hear it from our parents everyday. If it worked, there'd be a 
     lot more happy people in the world.
       But, seriously, the President has to get more in touch with 
     the times. He's lacking the excitement we need to keep us 
     interested, and he's boring us to death.
       A great example of this would be the voter turnout among 
     our youth. Very, very few young people vote, and why do you 
     think that is? I know why; because we don't care about the 
     politicians. Because we don't think they care about us. Why 
     should we support them if they don't support us? It's not 
     like I'm just gonna wake up one day when I'm 30, and just go, 
     ``WOW! I love politics! I think I'm gonna run for 
     President!!''
       With so many teenagers with this attitude, it's gonna take 
     a lot to get them to turn around and start getting involved 
     and interested. With no signs of Mr. Clinton even pondering 
     to make any changes, it's not looking too good.
       I don't want our President to run around listening to Rage 
     Against the Machine, or go to a Smashing Pumpkins concert, or 
     dye his hair blue. That will get our attention, but in the 
     wrong way. He just has to focus more on us. He's always 
     preoccupied with something else, and since we don't vote that 
     much anyway, why should we waste all that time?
       It's a sad and vicious cycle that keeps turning and 
     turning.
       The President's greatest challenge this term is to get that 
     cycle to stop. he has to--for the future of you, and your 
     country. But since no one has said anything to him yet, it 
     should, unfortunately, take a while.

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