LOW MOOR — Alleghany High School students recently had a rare opportunity to meet with their congressman.
Sixth District Rep. Ben Cline, R-Va., recently met with seniors in Hodnett Hall and he left donning an AHS Cougars baseball cap on his head. But before he departed, he gave the students important lessons on government and told them about the challenges of working in Washington, D.C. Now in his third term, Cline has served in Congress for five years.
“Get involved in your community and keep on being involved,” said Cline, who became drawn to government and public service when he was a student at Lexington High School.
Students took advantage to ask the congressman questions after he delivered brief remarks. As Cline stood on the floor in front of the students, he was peppered with questions ranging from affordable housing to funding for public education.
“This was a good group and they had some very good questions,” Cline said.
A lawyer by profession, Cline said law and politics are good careers to consider for students who are good at persuasive arguing.
“If you like to argue, I would encourage you to look at law and politics,” said Cline, who served as an assistant commonwealth’s attorney before starting a private law practice.
It was a conversation with the student body president at Lexington High School that steered Cline toward law and politics. Cline was elected as school historian.
“After that, I caught the bug and really started paying attention,” he said.
Cline served in the Virginia General Assembly from 2002-2018. He has represented Virginia’s Sixth Congressional District since 2019. The district includes the Alleghany Highlands and the Roanoke Valley. It stretches north into the Shenandoah Valley.
“It is stuff like this that I really enjoy,” Cline said of his discussions with the students at AHS. “I love being able to talk to the people I represent, and hear about what needs fixing, and brainstorm with people about how to fix it.”
In Congress, Cline is a member of the Problem Solvers Caucus, a group that is equally divided between Democrats and Republicans. The goal is to avoid gridlock by fostering bipartisan cooperation on key issues.
Cline said the work of the Problem Solvers Caucus offers important life lessons to high school students as they prepare for life after graduation.
“We talk with respect to one another, and we try to find areas where we agree,” he said.
Cline says his work in Congress is largely overshadowed by more well-known and popular politicians who attract widespread media attention.
“That is something you should consider as you prepare to graduate from high school. Do you want to be a showhorse or a workhorse? In life, it’s the workhorses who get more done,” he said.
But Cline said communications technology has given the current generation of high school students unlimited opportunities for success.
“Things are changing so fast that you have opportunities to do things that folks one generation removed didn’t have,” he told the students.
Cline’s visit to AHS was arranged through a partnership with the SIFMA Foundation. As an education arm of the Security Industries and Financial Markets Association, the foundation aims to help students from all backgrounds gain understanding of financial markets.
Each spring, the SIFMA Foundation sponsors the Capitol Hill Challenge, which engages Congress with underserved middle schools and high schools across the country. At AHS, teams of students are managing a hypothetical investment portfolio that helps them gain financial knowledge, develop workplace skills, and increase civics education.
The top performing teams earn national recognition and receive an opportunity to meet government and business leaders.
At AHS, the Capitol Hill Challenge is being coordinated by Kristy Humphreys, a government teacher who also teaches a course in personal finance and economics.
“I am so grateful to Nancy Khan at Capitol Hill Challenge for helping me coordinate this fantastic opportunity for our students. Congressman Cline was a fantastic speaker. Our students did a fantastic job,” Humphreys said.
Alleghany Highlands Public Schools Superintendent Kim Halterman and school board members Jacob Wright and Tammy Scruggs-Duncan were part of a delegation on hand to greet Cline during his visit to AHS.
“It is a wonderful opportunity to hear from an elected official, and we were proud of our students for the questions they asked about government and how decisions affect the Alleghany Highlands,” said Halterman and Melinda Snead-Johnson, leaders of AHPS, as they expressed gratitude for the visit.
AHPS was formed through the July 2022 merger of Alleghany Highlands Public Schools, Covington City Public Schools, and Jackson River Technical Center. The school division is jointly funded by Alleghany County and the City of Covington. It serves approximately 2,700 students.
AHPS news and events are regularly updated on Facebook at AHPublicSchools and Instagram at ahpublicschools. Information is also available at www.ahps.k12.va.us.
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