Let’s Get Political!

AP Government and Econ teacher, Mr. Milbrandt, is the club adviser for the Government Club, one of the new clubs at San Dimas this year. The club was created for government students as well as all Saints alike, to have a place to discuss important current events or issues that they see. Milbrandt explained that his inspiration for the club came from, “years of debate clubs that we’ve tried to start up. It comes from people wanting to have this kind of club and talk about these things, kind of an extension of the government class”. His hope is to provide a forum for students to have back and forth discussions with each other on topics that they deem relevant.

Milbrandt also mentioned that the club is a way to help fund raise for the government class. He said that, “We also want to do things for our government students and I needed a club to run fundraising”. However, Milbrandt does understand the challenge it may be to get high school students involved in a club like this. “Ultimately, I want this to be a group of kids who want to discuss and converse about these things. Hopefully, with time we’ll grow into that. Might not be there yet, but we’ve got time and room to grow”.

The overall purpose of the club is to create a space where Saints with all kinds of ideas and all kinds of backgrounds can come together and just talk. Milbrant said that, “I love that people come here with their own set of ideas that they’d like to see discussed.” He also mentioned that since he himself has a love for politics he thinks that, “having students that share that passion for it and want to debate on those issues is exciting for me.” Milbrandt understands that the assumption about high school kids nowadays is that they don’t care about politics or the world around them. “We often assume that kids aren’t knowledgeable or well read on these issues. Now, that isn’t always true and I like to see those kids that do have that knowledge engage in conversation with each other about it.”