The Associated Students of Colorado State University hosted their annual Day at the Capitol event March 31, allowing students to connect with statewide elected officials and learn more about the legislature.

The event gave students a unique opportunity to interact with their local government, aiming to promote student engagement with legislators and education around day-to-day legislative processes. Students were able to sit in on both the Colorado State House and Senate floor sessions, committee meetings and meet with elected officials and legislative staffers, including Governor Jared Polis.

Jelicity Luna, the ASCSU director of governmental affairs, said the event also serves a key role in advocating for the student body.

“Being able to show up and come to the Capitol and just be a presence here is really a privilege, but also, we have the right to take up that space and we should,” Luna said. “Being here, it’s advocating for students, even if you don’t know legislative processes or anything. Just your presence is enough to bring attention to these lawmakers and put their priorities where they should be: their constituents, which are students.” 

Josiah Avila, a student majoring in political science, shared similar sentiments to Luna, highlighting the opportunity to connect with legislators. Avila said he saw Colorado Rep. Manny Rutinel, who represents House District 32.

“I was too nervous to actually go up and talk to him, but it was cool being there and seeing him interacting with students,” Avila said. “It just showed us that although these people are politicians, they’re also human, and we can interact with them.”

Ainslee Cole, another attendee majoring in political science, said one of her highlights of the day was going on a tour of the Capitol, where she had the opportunity to see the building’s architecture and learn about its history.

Cole also said she enjoyed listening to different bills from the House and seeing the processes they went through.

“The language they used in the chambers was really interesting,” Cole said. “There’s a specific language and way they talked to each other, which I didn’t fully know about, but that was pretty cool.”

Other CSU students from Colorado, like Ella Draper, said that visiting the Capitol as a student was valuable because they were able to engage in the legislative process, now with a better understanding of it.

“As a political science major, I think it’s really cool to have the opportunity to go see the Colorado Capitol,” Draper said. “I’m actually from Denver, so I’ve been a couple times, but never with as much understanding of the political process, specifically the legislative process as I do now. It was really fun. I learned a lot.” 

ASCSU Vice President Joseph Godshall said the event also allowed students to see what a career at the State Capitol looks like, drawing on his own experience as a legislative intern for State Rep. Dusty Johnson this past semester.

“It was really easy for me to get them involved, (and) a lot of the other interns are having active roles in taking the students around (and) showing them the day-to-day,” Godshall said. “It’s not just like we’re tourists or visitors. You really get a perspective of what it’s like to work here on a daily basis from a peer (and) a fellow college student.” 

Chair of the ASCSU Women and Social Justice Caucus Miriam Hill echoed Godshall and said it was meaningful to see CSU alumni working at the capitol.

“I’m an out-of-state student, so I don’t know very much about the Colorado legislature, so it was really cool to be able and see how it works,” Hill said. “I think it’s important context and especially seeing alumni here has been really cool because you can really see future careers in this field, and also just the kind of impact of the stuff that we’re doing.”

Godshall emphasized that politics is not just for political science students and that he hoped the event illustrated how every student is represented in politics.

“Even though it seems like working in this building is exclusive to political science majors, where people are interested in policy or law, all fields are represented here because the policy that’s heard in the House and the Senate is not just based in politics,” Godshall said. “It affects every single corner of the state from technology, agriculture, policy and beyond.”

Reach Chloe Rios, Laila Shekarchian and Claire VanDeventer at news@collegian.com or on social media @RMCollegian.