All year long,marketing freshman Matt Horton has been spending about six to eight hours a week on a Student Service Learning Project for his American Thought and Language class, “Writing: Public Life in America.”
Horton and his peers from ATL will be honored for work they completed in a handbook to be published this fall, titled “Generation Y Speaks Out, A Public Policy Guide.” The event will take place from 3 p.m to 5 p.m. today at the Kellogg Center.
Horton began volunteering for the Michigan Public Policy Initiative last semester with the intent of writing a grant for the organization, whose mission is to promote nonprofit involvement in public policy.
He soon found himself in charge of an effort gathering input on public policy, organizing student viewpoint and acquiring $4,500 in grants to publish a book that depicts the stances of people in the 18-24 age group.
“I believe a lot of older generations think that Generation Y are slackers and that we don’t care,” he said.
This was the myth Horton and several members of an ATL 135 class are attempting to disprove, by writing a handbook containing political issues important to members of Generation Y.
“I hope the handbook shows legislators that our generation does have a say on issues,” Horton said. “I want our opinion taken seriously.”
Students of ATL Professor Christopher Buck’s class held a focus group this semester concerning issues important to members of Generation Y. The class developed 53 ideas from abortion to violence in schools, then wrote briefs on the topics.
“The project fulfills the prime object of ATL 135, which is writing for the real world,” Buck said. “But this project does more than that, it is making a difference in the real world by communicating Generation Y concerns to public policy makers.
“What made the project possible was the community partnership between MSU and MPPI, through Matt Horton and Jerry Lindman.”
Lindman, director of the Michigan Public Policy Initiative, a program of the Michigan NonProfit Association, will play host to students, staff and community members in recognizing the work and accomplishments of students at today’s event.
“It is the partners coming together to celebrate this innovative new project,” Lindman said. “We’ll recognize the teamwork that was involved, primarily that of the students and all the hard work that they put into the briefs.”
Lindman believes the final product will influence legislators.
“The handbook basically provided students a real-life scenario in which their writing had a direct impact on the policy maker reading it,” he said. “They weren’t just writing it for a grade but for a real purpose, which put a lot of importance and gravity on the project.”
State Rep. Paul DeWeese, R-Williamston, said the handbook produced by the students is important because it helps the broader public understand the younger generation.
“If I am going to be a representative of all the people, I need to understand all of the values, concerns and prospective of every generation that I represent,” DeWeese said.
“It is a reference or instrument that will enlighten and inform people like me, what is going on in the minds of another generation.”
