North Carolina Representative for District 2, Ray Jeffers visited Roxboro Community School on Monday, April 15 for Bring Your Representative to School Day.
RCS English, Spanish and Linguistics teacher, William Storrs arranged for Rep. Jeffers to visit the school and talk with his Honors English III class. Before taking Jeffers to his classroom, Storrs took him around the school, making a stop in the band room. There Jeffers was reunited with RCS band teacher, Valerie Smith who taught Jeffers’ band when he was in middle school here in Person County and the high school band then performed two songs for him.
During the short question and answer session in Storr’s classroom, Jeffers shared a little bit about his background. As a Person County native, Jeffers served as a County Commissioner here for 12 years. While serving here he also served on the board of directors for the N.C. Association of County Commissioners for 11 years, two of which he served as President.
He shared that working to get money added to the state budget for Roxboro to update it’s water and sewer infrastructure which will help with growth and economic development has been a hight light of his career in public office so far. He was also able to get funds for Piedmont Community College into the state budget, another highlight for him.
Jeffers then advised to students on the best way to get involved in issues that are facing North Carolina, telling them to read up and try to understand what is happening with current events, looking to multiple sources to get their information to then be able to create their own opinion on issues. He also shared his advice to students who want to start advocating for what they believe in. “Know that your voice is important,” Jeffers said. He explained that he still represents them even though they are not old enough to vote, so they should still be able to advocate for the issues they feel passionate about and be heard.
As part of their advocacy unit this year, these students wrote research papers that investigated their areas of interest, pulling from at least 8 pieces of peer-reviewed research. After the Q&A, they were then able to sit with Jeffers in groups to share their research, giving him an ask of what they would like to see happen to make change happen. Jeffers talked with each group, asking follow-up questions, giving them ideas on where to find additional information and sources, informing them about legislature in the works about their issues and helping them find potential pitfalls in their asks.
“This meeting was kind of a kick-off of ‘now I know these things about this issues, how do I take my knowledge and make it advocacy,’ ” Storrs explained. With Jeffers pointers and advice, these students will continue to work on their research and turn it into a elevator pitch that they will present to Senator Graig Meyer in Raleigh in May.
Storrs was thankful to have Jeffers come and speak with his students as if they were lobbyists to help prepare them for the next step and for his students who represented RCS well.