Cedarcrest Students Explore Lawmaking in Action

Stories Across the Agency

April 23, 2025

Olympia — *Courtesy of Cedarcrest Middle School*

Cedarcrest Middle School is making civic engagement more than just a chapter in a textbook.

This year, the school is piloting the Youth and Government program, a YMCA initiative that gives teens hands-on experience in the legislative process, allowing them to draft bills, debate pressing issues, and see how laws are created.

For Cedarcrest history and English teacher Becky Mathews, the program offers an opportunity to take classroom learning beyond theory. It gives her students a deeper understanding of the legislative process by allowing them to experience it firsthand.

“The thing that’s been the most exciting to watch is seeing kids coming up with their own ideas, because our 13- and 14-year-olds have amazing ideas about things that we should change,” Mathews said. “They want to make sure our world is safe for the next generation and generations to come.”

Don Brevik, Association Youth and Government Director with YMCA of Pierce and Kitsap Counties, has seen firsthand the impact this program has on young minds.

“I believe the Youth and Government program makes civics come alive for a lot of students,” Brevik said. “[We tell them] Would you be surprised to know that you are the actual government? You have a voice. That’s how you make change. And they get excited about that.”

That excitement is already evident in Cedarcrest students, who have been brainstorming and developing ideas ranging from banning plastic straws to granting full voting rights to citizens of U.S. territories. The diversity of topics reflects the passion and thoughtfulness of these middle schoolers, eager to make a difference in their communities and beyond.

Among those students is J.D., an eighth-grader who is writing a bill to ban tobacco products.

“Thousands of people are dying from that each year,” J.D. said. “My dad is one of the people struggling with it, so that’s one of the things that inspired me to write about it.”

Tayani, another eighth-grader in the program, was initially drawn in by the debate aspect but has since gained a broader perspective.

“In the beginning of the year, Ms. Mathews was telling us about it and she was saying how we’d be arguing with people. I guess I like to argue. I think that’s what made me interested in it at first,” Tayani said.

The program will culminate in a trip to Olympia, where Cedarcrest students will present their bills at a mock legislative session alongside other Youth and Government participants from across the state. There, on the floor of the State Legislature, they will have the chance to debate their ideas, refine their arguments, and experience what it’s like to shape public policy.

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