[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 153 (2007), Part 13]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages 18072-18073]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




 10TH CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT OF ILLINOIS SCHOOL CONSERVATION CORPS ACT 
                                OF 2007

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. MARK STEVEN KIRK

                              of illinois

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, June 28, 2007

  Mr. KIRK. Madam Speaker, I am pleased to introduce the 10th 
Congressional District of Illinois School Conservation Corps Act of 
2007, a bill crafted by America's future leaders. I believe it is 
critical to engage younger generations in our civic process in order to 
help them begin to build a better tomorrow.
  Earlier this year, I invited students from all across my district to 
participate in a Model Congress. The best and brightest high school 
students from around northeast Illinois turned out to spend a weekend 
listening to expert testimony, debating policy, and passing legislation 
on climate change and environmental conservation.
  One of the bills the students considered establishes a pilot program 
in the 10th District of Illinois for the Secretary of Education to 
launch and support a School Conservation Corps. Any group of 10 
students and an advisor may form a chapter of the Corps to receive 
grants to participate in various environmental protection and 
restoration activities. Assuming the roles of actual Members of 
Congress, the students debated many provisions of the bill, including 
the types of activities that shall be performed, the amount of initial 
and matching

[[Page 18073]]

grants that may be made available, and the parameters of the program's 
evaluation and expansion.
  I am proud to announce that with minor drafting changes, the bill I 
rise to introduce today is the same bill passed by the talented 
students of the 10th District on April 22, 2007. I want to recognize 
Lauren Blake and Will McGauran who played the majority and minority 
leaders of this Model Congress. These students, who will both be 
seniors at New Trier High School next fall, worked hard to build 
partnerships and find compromises to pass the legislation before them.
  The complete Model Congress comprised of the following students, who 
each played a critical role in the proceedings: Edward Alvarez, Charles 
Arnowitz, Frank Austin, Carolyn Barnett, Andrew Barr, Steven Blumental, 
Josh Brown, Emily Buehler, Melissa Burns, Arvin Canda, Lauren 
Cannizzaro, Douglas Carr, Amy Cleveland, Angelica Cleveland, Simone 
Coburn, Bruce Codell, Jordan Cohen, Elyse Conklin, Dan Cowin, Semeka 
Cunningham, Joseph Delvin, Peter Drogos Phyall, Ellen Eichner, Gustavo 
Esquivel, Maria Estrada, Teresa Fabila, Brad Fink, Kevin Finkle, 
Sherrie Fortson, Stephanie Fortson, Rebecca Fowler, Rachel Fybel, 
Roberto Garcia, Ana Gaytan, Aaron Goldstein, Alex Gordon, A. William 
Greene, Jake Grubman, Ray Gu, Robbie Gustafson, Patrick Hamann, Ryan 
Hamilton, Jacob Hanson, Brad Heinz, Adam Herbert, Jordan Heyman, David 
Isaacson, Joshua Jackson, Rachel Jackson, Lauren Jensen, Ari Kasper, 
Ruth Kee, Courtney Kennedy, Jacob Klein, Julia Kohn, Noah Kraff, Noam 
Kupfer, Geno Kurolapnak, Jake Lapping, Alex Lazakis, Austin Lin, Tyler 
Litke, Thomas Lovinger, John Maigler, Lauren McCall, Michael McCall, 
Monte Monaco, Neal Muller, Brooke-Lynn Navarro, Ariel Olswanger, Lauren 
Olswanger, Aaron Parker, Ami Pekaj, Stacey Podovik, Kiran Pookote, 
Jonathan Prohov, John Reid Sidebotham, David Reiss, Nils Robbins, Ben 
Rose, Ari Ruffer, Maya Samuel, Matt Schuelke, Ayal Sharvit, Samara 
Silverman, Matt Skalski, Matthew Sloan, Sarah Smith, Karolina Strack, 
Ilana Strauss, Kathryn Swanson, Gideon Sylvan, Steve Tapas, Lindsey 
Taylor, Anne Tomsky, Sam Travers, Roxanne Tully, Maddi Vering, Robert 
Wald, Rachel Weiss, Lauren Whalley, John Yang, Gale Young, Dominique 
Young, Jonathan Youshaei, John Zender, and Michael Zucker.
  Members of the United States Congress should take cues from all these 
students on how to work in a more bipartisan manner to accomplish the 
most pressing issues that face Americans. I urge my colleagues to 
support this legislation and invest in tomorrow's leaders.

                          ____________________