Hundreds of Young People Lobby, Meet with Gov. Pawlenty, Speaker Sviggum; Students Flock to Capitol for Unmatched Experience.

"As the next generation, you need to take the opportunity and pick up the cause as caring, informed, energetic leaders." -- Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty

Editor's note. The following article appeared in the March issue of MCCLNews, the newspaper of MCCL (Minnesota Citizens Concerned for Life), NRLC's state affiliate. It is a wonderful account of an incredible outpouring of youth energy.

More than 350 enthusiastic young people, grades 7-12, descended on the state Capitol Feb. 17 to learn about pro-life issues and lawmaking and to lobby their legislators to support pro-life bills. Their pro-life passion made a significant impact on legislators, who ran into groups of students all day long in the Capitol halls and met with others in their offices.

"The turnout of students exceeded our expectations, which showed us that today's young people have a very strong desire to make a difference on behalf of innocent and vulnerable people," said MCCL Executive Director Scott Fischbach. "They were hungry for information and access to public officials, and we provided them with a great deal of both."

Students met Pawlenty, Sviggum

The highlights of the day were meetings with pro-life Gov. Tim Pawlenty and pro-life Speaker of the House Steve Sviggum - - the two most powerful persons in the state. Pawlenty was thrilled to see that almost twice as many young people came to MCCL Student Day as did last year, and he encouraged them all to be actively pro-life.

"One of the greatest values we have is to make sure we do all we can to protect innocent lives," Pawlenty told the students. "The progress the pro-life cause has made in Minnesota in the last few years shows that people can make a difference. As the next generation, you need to take the opportunity and pick up the cause as caring, informed, energetic leaders."