Day 6: Tour of the State House and guest speaker Representative Jermaine Johnson

 Today was our tour of the South Carolina State House! 

Touring any state house is really cool and this was no different. I find it super fun to be in the building where so much history has happened and legislation that affects people every day is being passed and has been passed for centuries. 

Representatives Mike Neese and Micah Caskey were kind enough to bring us into the State House where they work and answer all of the questions we had. As a group of political science majors we asked them probably dozens of questions and they answered them all very sincerely. I have a lot of respect for the representatives we spoke to today, despite the fact that we ideologically are very different they explained to us that they are just trying to represent their districts and their people to the best of their ability. 

Our tour guide Heyward Stuckey was incredibly kind. I had a very long conversation with him about the history of South Carolina and he gave me the inside scoop on the messy history of South Carolina politics, he especially had a lot of information on Strom Thurmond, who I also discussed with the representatives. Heyward had a plethora of information about South Carolina and was more than happy to share with us. 

To wrap up the day we heard from Representative Jermain Johnson who is a top contender for my favorite guest lecturer. Jermaine is incredibly young to be a representative and he never even thought he would be involved in politics. I loved hearing his perspective and talking to him as one young person in politics to another. Talking to him felt like hearing from a motivational speaker and I think that he inspired every single one of us in the room.