Elkhorn, East Troy to participate in pilot of Youth in Government program
By Kellen Olshefski
SLN Staff
The City of Elkhorn Common Council voted unanimously in favor of participating in the Youth in Government pilot program at its Aug. 15 meeting.
Elkhorn will join the Village of East Troy in the pilot program, set to kick off this fall with student participation beginning in January.
At the meeting, Village of East Troy Administrator Eileen Suhm said getting youth involved in government is a great avenue for getting citizens involved at a young age, something she’s passionate about.
“I went to our high school and spoke on career day and I remember when I said, do you know what your civic duty is,” she said. “You could have heard crickets chirp. These students didn’t know what it was and I was talking to junior level students.
“That was upsetting to me.”
Suhm said in East Troy, they have issues getting citizens involved until it’s too late. She noted they have issues finding people to fill roles on committees and as election inspectors, as an example, noting those they do find typically have some sort of civic duty experience in the past.
“I just think it’s a great way to get youth exposed to that, start at a young age,” she said. “Maybe it’s just a couple kids, but those kids talk to other people and get that ball rolling.”
In talking with officials from Green County, which instituted a similar program, Suhm said she was told that not only did the program spark youth to become involved in local government, but their parents as well.
Cathy Anderson, who is the executive assistant at the Walworth County Economic Development Alliance and partnering with Suhm on the program, said when pulling together the program, they wanted to approach both Elkhorn and East Troy first because of their connections with the alliance. Over the next five years, Anderson said the goal is to get students from all seven high schools in the county involved in their respective local governments.
“So, you’ll be seeing it rolling out,” she said.
