Keep young folks interested in state government

Several years ago, students at Hays-Lodge Pole High School took state Sen. Jonathan Windy Boy's challenge to get involved in Montana politics

When Windy Boy attended a class, students wanted to know why there were St. Patrick's Day and Columbus Day to honor the Irish and Italians, but there was no holiday to honor Montana's Native Americans.

The Irish and Italians had lobbied in behalf of their days, the senator said. No one had lobbied for a Native American day.

So the students began a letter-writing campaign that morphed into a full-fledged lobbying effort to convince Helena lawmakers to est...