WINONA, Minn. – Some were aspiring politicos, others just interested in good citizenship. Some 175 students from Montessori to college, convened in the annual Winona Model Legislature to get a feel for law-making from the inside out. The two-day session began with a welcom from Secretary of State Steve Simon, and concluded with the passage of mock bills on serious issues as well as what Winona High School senior Nathaniel Dennis called some “fun bills.” The proceedings are published on the Model Legislature websitee, just like a real legs;ature’s work. Among bills passed:
> Making prescription drugs affordable.
> Legalizing marijuana.
> Assuring consumer data privacy.
> Guaranteeing multilingual voting.
> Funding for Native women going through abuse trauma.
> Appropriating $1 million to expand the Model Legislature project.
During two days of haggling and lobbying, Winona High senior Freyja Wolfe.was elected governor. Dennis was elected lieutenant governor.
Bluffview Montessori School, Cotter High School, Minnesota State College Southeast, Rushford-Peterson High School, Winona Middle School, Winona High School, Winona State University.
Remembering those days. Back when Gene Pelowski was teaching government in high school, his major project was the Model Legislature.
Pelowski, ever the teacher
Veteran Winona legislator Gene Pelowski shepherded the Model Legislature through many years when he taught government at Winona High School. Over the years, he said he’s seen students who have gone through the program go on to work in politics and students who have become teachers who have brought their students to the Model Legislature. In a Winona Daily News interview at the 2022 session, Pelowski said: “Students are working with the bills and we get to see what they are going to pass out of committee, get into the floor of the House and the Senate, and see what they amend and what they defeat. These are bills from our Legislature. They are our bills. We teach them how to amend them the same way we do, how to debate them, and how to make sure that when the bill is done, it gets posted on the website.”