A senior at Normal Community High School learned about federal policymaking in a mock Senate this month in Washington, D.C.
Girls Nation, a program presented by the American Legion Auxiliary, sends 102 high schoolers, two from each state, to Washington to act as senators. These students pass legislation, run for other forms of leadership and meet leaders from their state during their time in D.C.
While Girls Nation is meant to model the federal government, Nysa Anand first attended Girls State on the campus of Eastern Illinois University. That program models the Illinois legislature, and there is also a Boys State and Nation held during the summer months.
“Everyone is a senator, but then they have a chance to run for another elected position,” said Anand. “So that could be a party position, such as party chair or vice chair or a committee chairwoman, or that could be a president, vice president position, or that could be a Senate official position, like the Senate Pro Tem as well."
Anand was the first Bloomington-Normal student to reach Girls Nation in more than a decade.
Anand said she ran for other positions but ended up serving as the director for the National Institutes of Health [NIH]. She added she hopes to work as a physician either at the NIH or the Centers for Disease Control [CDC] at some point in her career.
“Which is perfect because I'm someone who wants to go into the medical field as a physician, but also as someone who can advocate for public health and people and protecting minorities and fix systems and systematic barriers that prevent minorities from getting the care that they need in the medical field,” said Anand.
Anand also authored a bill focused on artificial intelligence in the medical field. Anand said she wanted to ensure patients saw more transparency when AI was used as part of their treatment.
One part of Girls Nation is Capitol Hill Day, where meetings are held with legislative officials from each student’s respective state. Anand met with Sen. Dick Durbin and Tammy Duckworth’s legislative directors. They both explained the paths they took to begin working for senators and gave advice to the high schoolers about how to go about their futures.
“It was really a profound experience, because it was such an amazing opportunity to be able to see them as people and not just politicians, and that really changed my perspective on the future of our state as well,” said Anand.
