Area teens visit Wis. Capitol, speak with state leaders about the future

MADISON, Wis. (WMTV) - A group of future leaders had the opportunity Wednesday to speak with current leaders about the future of Wisconsin.

The Friendship Circle of Wisconsin’s teen leadership board took a trip to the State Capitol. Before meeting with Lieutenant Governor Sara Rodriguez, the teens visited with a panel of legislators for a Q&A. There they had a chance to ask questions about culture and politics in Wisconsin, and share some of the issues most important to them.

Senior in high school Eva Antonoff said she is passionate about mental health.

“I’m apart of UMatter specifically, which is a teen health organization, and I really want to help people,” Antonoff said. “I want to make sure everyone from any community here, is able to get help and have resources because mental health supports are not very accessible for many people and having help like psychologists, they’re very expensive and unless you have really great insurance, you won’t really be able to get that support.”

Antonoff said she was nervous prior to the gathering, but speaking with the legislators was both inspirational and empowering.

“It was great to hear how involved and how much passion these people hold for a lot of the issues that are wrong and that we want to fix,” she said. “It kind of just made me want to speak up more and just made my fears go away because this has such big issues that we need to fix.”

The day-trip also included a stop to the Capitol’s trumpeters’ ring and observation deck. The Lt. Governor presented the presidential service awards to the teen leadership board to conclude the day.

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