Really, we wanted to do something because it seemed like the government really wasn't doing much. We wanted to be that change, then we wanted to start something, you can do this, you can still do something if you find it important to you.
Not many college freshmen or veterans of the world of Illinois state politics. But today we talked to one who not only created legislation, but got it passed, all before finishing high school. This is random acts of knowledge presented by Heartland Community College. I'm your host, Steve fast. The goal to conserve 30% of the land and 30% of the water in Illinois by the year 2030. That came a legislative directive in 2020, thanks to the hard work of a group of young students and their high school mentor. Today, we talked with one of those young people now a freshman at Hartling Community College, who led that legislative effort all from an environmental science class.
I'm Keegan Hall, I'm from Pontiac, Illinois, and I went to Pontiac Township High School. And now I'm going to Heartland I'm a freshman.
So if you can tell us a little bit of what you're studying as a freshman at Heartland.
I'm majoring in education. I'm hoping to become an early elementary teacher. I'm thinking like first second grade.
Well, you had a pretty interesting experience last year, when you were in high school at Pontiac Township, you had a teacher that had you and one of your classmates work on a project that allowed you to kind of learn a little bit about the legislative process here in Illinois. Can you tell us a little bit about that class? And tell us about your teacher?
Yeah, so that class was very, I'd say life changing? Because I know it's something it's a year from high school that I'll definitely remember. Because it made me and Emily realize that we weren't just high schoolers, we can do what we want, if we really want to and Mr. Ritter made sure that we did because he kept pushing us. And when we had setbacks, he made us realize that that's okay. You can just keep going,
your classmate and we What's your last name? Collins, Collins, and Paul Ritter is the teacher and does he teach political science? Does he teach biology? What does he teach at Pontiac,
the environmental or science and then I think just earth science too.
So this project that you worked on, you actually wrote a bill to introduce or try to get introduced into the state legislature. Tell us a little bit about the bill, how you decided to write about what you're going to write about and what you were hoping to achieve.
We first started by writing, trying to write a piece of legislation. And we had to start by reaching out to different representative. So one of the first people we ever reached out to is Representative Tom Bennett. And he was with us the whole way, he helped us with so much throughout it. And he kind of just helped us where to start. But essentially, our bill is about preserving and protecting 30% land water by 2030. So he helped us with the wording and how to write everything, and pointed us in the right direction to other people who would help us with different pieces of information in it.
Now, did you start out with the goal and write that up before you got to Representative Bennett? Or did you just tell him what you were trying to do and then then move on from there.
We knew the goal because it wasn't originally started by Emily and I was five past students, Claire and Lauren. We wanted to take it further. So we said we want to protect 30%, land water. We want to make it into legislation. And we're like, where do we start? Who can we talk to
tell us a little bit about the need? What are the things that you wanted to get into this bill? Why is this protection necessary? Why does state government need to be involved? What moved you to want to get to that specific goal of 30% of protection by 2030?
Really, we wanted to do something because it seemed like the government really wasn't doing much. We wanted to be that change. And we wanted to start something even for other students like us, we look up to like, oh, you can do this even though you think you're not at a highest high level as them like you can still do something if you find it important to you.
Sounds like you were really motivated to to do this. Is the environment something that you've been interested in for some time? Was it something that you had learned about and then it got you motivated? What At what point did you decide on this topic? And what was the spark that made you get into this particular effort?
I've always been kind of like, conscious about like, trying to recycle, be good to the environment, like do what you can as your part, your your role in it. And especially I think some of that kind of like is inspiring to me, too, is Greta Thun, Berg, and her movements to try and protect land. And we're like, oh, we want to do something similar to her and Mr. Ritter said to us, honestly, what Greta is doing is great, but you guys can do it too, if not better.
That's interesting that you mentioned that because there is obviously a big age gap between Greta Thun Berg and you and the people that actually have to carry the ball to create legislation. So what was it like when you first met with Representative Bennett, who would end up sponsoring this bill? And did you think that it was something that he was taking you seriously? Do you think it was just like, Oh, here's some high school kids, and I want to hear what they have to say. And it's always good to meet with constituents. What was that first meeting with the representative, like,
it was great, we were just super thankful that we were even able to talk to him. And he had always taken seriously and helped us throughout everything. He never treated us. Like we were just high schoolers, and were dumb. He knew we were too smart high schoolers and really wanted this to happen.
So what happened then after you met with Representative Bennett, you said that he suggested some language for the bill? Did you revise it? What's that process? Like in trying to write up a bill and get it through the legislative process? What did you have to do to edit it, revise it? Who did you have to talk to?
So he kind of gave us like an outline on how to write it, because you have to write it in a very certain way. And then we'd send it back and forth. And he and his team would edit it for us. And then he also gave us more people to reach out to if he didn't know a specific piece of information that we would need. He'd give us their information. And so you would reach out to them.
At any point. Did you get any pushback for this? Or was it something that everybody was okay, kind of the direction you were going?
The majority of the people we talked to, or were very supportive of us. We had one that was not necessarily against us, but not voting for it. Their team, we sent it to them and their team, edit it and crossed, basically, a piece of writing out that we felt was essential to it. And so we're like, why did they do this? So we were like, can we talk with you? Can we schedule a zoom? So at first, when he talked to Ritter, it seemed like he was like, Oh, it's just too high schoolers who just have no idea what they're talking about. But I felt like once we actually sat down and talked to him, and explained our side and everything, and being and having just like a civil conversation, being like, we're not trying to, like, make you mad, or like, push against you or anything. We're just trying to figure this out for ourselves.
So what would you say is the most important thing you learned throughout creating this bill and going through the process of moving it ahead?
That there's always gonna be some pushback, and not everybody's gonna agree with everything you have to say. And even though there is, there can be some compromise, and I think compromise is good. But when it comes to like compromising something you feel is vital that I don't think that's worth it.
Once you got representative Bennett introduced the bill to sponsor the bill, he introduced it to the house. So what happens then I think a lot of us maybe don't even know what this whole process is like to try to get a bill to the point where can be voted on? What happened at that point? When was it ready? And when did he introduce it?
We really didn't know exactly how it would go knew he'd had to introduce it. But then we finally scheduled a Zoom meeting, Tom Bennett sent us the link we were on with the whole committee. And talking to them. It was very, very nerve wracking. We had no idea how it would go. But turned out it was a unanimous vote.
So that was the House Committee. And at that point, you mentioned it was a Zoom meeting. This is all because this is happening last year, and it was during the pandemic. And were you even in class at school, you're probably attending classes remotely, at least some of this time, right?
That whole year, we were doing like a really weird schedule. It was like half the alphabet was at the school, and then the other half would come on different days. So we only have like two or three days a week of school. So then we would oftentimes work on it, obviously, in Mr. Ritter's classroom. And then a lot of it was at home to
through this whole process. You're trying to adjust to a weird schedule with your high school classes and trying to work on this project. Was that an interesting experience trying to balance this? I guess, I wonder, did this feel like school? Or did it feel like it was something else you were doing almost entirely outside of that? I know it was tied to your class. But I guess you probably had to put in a lot of extra time and effort for it.
Yeah, so I really and I put in a lot of time, honestly, it was just a lot of it was just sending emails to different representatives, and people saying we really want to talk to you about what we're doing 30 by 30, and we think you'd be a great help to us. And we'd love if you would talk to us. And then we had to do a lot out school and then it really did feel like something separate than school. It felt like not even a class. It just felt like something we were doing for the betterment of environment.
So once you got the bill through the House Committee with the unanimous vote of the committee, what happened then, is it that is it at that point where you thought, well, wow, this could actually happen. This could become legislation that is part of Illinois law, or did you always kind of expect it would happen? like that after a certain point,
Emily, and I honestly didn't know how far it would go. But once it passed with a unanimous vote, we knew that it was going to be something bigger than just a project and Mr. Ritter's classroom, we knew it was going to be, we were hoping at least it would be comme la.
So when it moved to the Illinois Senate, what happened then? Did they ask for any changes? Did it have to have any reconciliation? Did it encounter more pushback? What was that part? Like?
Honestly, not too much. They were all super supportive and like, astounded that high schoolers were doing this. And we're so knowledgeable on writing legislation and being a part of this process.
One of the things that's interesting at this point, you probably had, you know, some media involved some TV stations, because it's a unique situation. Did they come and they want to talk to you about it? Were they following the bill kind of more closely, then?
Yeah. So when we knew station we talked to as WCA. We talked to them a couple of times, and a film that when we zoomed with the House Committee of the House of Representatives, they found that and they interviewed us and afterwards and kind of just talked about it, and how we got started and everything.
So what's the end result of all this work? What will happen? What's the next step as this gets put into practice?
So me and Emily are actually part of the task force. So we would get a vote. And we are hoping the next step would be to bring everyone together. And Mr. Ritter has new students this year, who are actually working on it, Eva, and Olivia, and they're doing a very good job on it, too. But we're hoping everyone can come together and have a discussion and set goals to reach the 30% by 2030.
Through this whole process, this took your entire senior year, more or less, and is bleeding into this now. But you're you're a freshman at Heartland Community College, and you mentioned that you're studying education, this process of working on this bill and being involved in helping with state legislation influenced at all what you want to do with college.
Yeah, Mr. Ritter definitely taught us some important life lessons. And I think one of the important lessons that one of the lessons that stuck with me was, you're gonna get pushback from people, you're gonna get some people that don't agree with what you're doing. But if it's something that is important to you, and you feel is necessary, you can compromise with people, because I feel like compromise is a good thing. But if it's vital to what you're doing, then you have to stand your ground and you have to keep pushing.
Do you think you would encourage other people to take a more active role? I mean, this is something that when we think of how bills move through the Illinois House and Senate and what eventually becomes signed into law in the state, you know, you think about lobbyists, you think about special interest groups, you think about unions, you don't necessarily think about just a couple of high school students could get something this far. I think
it inspires others, because we have talked to a high school in Michigan, actually. And they are creating a piece of legislation for their state, similar to ours. And we are hoping that just keeps spiraling into a nationwide thing.
Well, Keegan, thanks so much for talking to us about this is very exciting. It's cool that you were able to do this. And it's really impressive as well. So congratulations to you and Emily and to Mr. Ritter, who always seems like he has something going on. Yeah. It says sometimes the snapping turtles sometimes it's helping students with legislation. So thanks a lot for telling us about this project. And good luck with your studies at Heartland.
All right, thank you.
Thank you. Keegan Hall is a freshman at Heartland Community College. She's studying early childhood education. But as a senior at Pontiac Township High School, she and a classmate wrote and lobbied for legislation that would achieve additional protections for Illinois land and water. If you enjoyed this interview, and are interested in other subjects, including an effort to save the alligator snapping turtle, which began from the same Pontiac Township High School class, subscribe to random acts of knowledge wherever you found this podcast. Thanks for listening
