One of the most enjoyed types of television these days are crime and detective shows, from the prisons and high tech technology that gives DNA evidence in a few seconds. However, from my experience with Government Day with Youth Leadership Highlands, I have learned that most of these things are overly dramatic to help gain views. To start the day off we learned about the Discipline ridge. As a leader, we must be disciplined to not only be a good leader of others but be leaders of ourselves. Throughout the entire day the group was exposed to a lot of people whose jobs require them to be extremely disciplined not only to keep themselves safe but others as well. The first person we listened to
Honestly, I am not sure if this day can be beat. It was amazing to see how little Highlands County is so much more intricate and structured than it appears from a teenage mind. With the YLH program, we got to experience everything from forensic science experiments to the ins and outs of Highlands County Jail. Along with these fun activities, we got to listen to some really intelligent speakers such as Circuit Judge Angela Cowden, Sheriff Paul Blackman, and Highlands County Clerk of Courts Bob Germaine. The new things that we learned definitely changed our perception of the town we live in, and showed us how many good people we have working to protect it.
The other day our Mason G. Smoak Foundation group got to go on a trip that our advisors called Government Day. The trip was exactly as it sounded, we were able to see how different parts of our local government work and how they come together to allow our county to function as a whole. We got to see many different aspects of the local government, a few examples include our county clerk of courts, our county sheriff, and the local k-9 unit. While meeting all these men and women was fascinating, it was important to think about why we need them and how important it is that they do their jobs well. This was our first outing together and it really helped me understand the overall goal of the foun
