Helena students videoconference with senator
Published 12:00 am Tuesday, March 21, 2006
Brittany Horton asked U.S. Sen. Jeff Session about &8220;No Child Left Behind&8221; legislation.
&8220;Do you feel (the legislation) achieved its goals?&8221; she asked.
She said the senator told her it hadn&8217;t reached all that was planned, &8220;but it&8217;s well on its way.&8221;
Horton is a student in Sarah Hopper&8217;s fifth grade social studies class at Helena Intermediate School.
Horton was among students who participated in a live videoconference with
Sessions from their school library last Thursday.
Using technology, the students were able to see and hear Sessions respond to their questions live.
Hopper said the purpose of the teleconference was for Sen. Sessions to talk to her class in person about his job and the U.S. government.
She said he also fielded questions from the students on various topics related to the country and the role government plays in every citizen&8217;s life.
Students learned that there are 535 members of Congress.
Sessions told the students that he had a &8220;nice meeting with the president and Vice President (Dick) Chaney and Andrew Carr.&8221;
Student Abbi Kahl asked Sessions if he wanted to run for president.
Sessions told Abbi there were no plans for that indicating he would stay with the U.S. Senate for now.
Student Megan Johns asked Sessions what he was
doing to bring the soldiers home.
Johns said Sessions told her he felt the soldiers might want to be (in Iraq) to help our country.
Sessions told Emily White he is working on creating stronger immigration laws.
The senator told Abigail Head he was &8220;trying to lower taxes.&8221;
Sessions told the students, &8220;It&8217;s a pleasure to be with you. Your questions were first rate. I&8217;ve enjoyed them all.&8221;
Others who asked questions included Jessica Smyley, Morgan Lawson, Kolby Booth, Andrew Smith, Jill Wegner, Elizabeth Boyle and Jabari Scott