- This post was written by Kate Callahan, Communications and Lobby Day Intern, Campus Progress.

Last Thursday, the morning after the 2009 Campus Progress National Conference, a hundred young people participated in a lobby day on Capitol Hill where they met with their elected officials demanding action on the issues that will determine what economic opportunities our generation will have, specifically health care reform, green job creation, and college affordability. The Lobby Day was co-sponsored by Campus Progress Action, Health Care For America Now, Energy Action Coalition and the Student PIRGs.

The committed early risers woke up with an assortment of coffee, fruit, bagels and pastries while listening to a motivational speech by Campus Progress Deputy Director Erica Williams and Advocacy Associate Tommaso Boggia on the dos and don’ts of lobbying, before splitting off into issue training groups. The students were then set free with schedules in hand to navigate through halls of Senate offices in Hart, Dirksen and Russell, as well as House offices in Rayburn, Longworth and Canon. Some were dressed in oversized graduation gowns and arm slings to emphasize their points.

Highlights of the day included sightings of Sonia Sotomayor in a cast, limping from the Senate offices with camera crew in tow, a casual “hello” in the hallway from health care champion New York Senator Chuck Schumer, learning an Oklahoma Senator’s views on the existence of dinosaurs, and a frank discussion on strengthening the ACES climate bill versus the realities of representing Missouri with Senator Claire McCaskill. About 20 attendees also contributed to the Avaaz Climate Action Factory’s aerial photograph by spelling out the words “Strong” with their bodies in the Hart Senate Building atrium to ask for a stronger climate bill.

In between meetings, the students hung out at nearby cafes with the Campus Progress Advocacy Team to discuss how their meetings went, as well as possible follow-up opportunities during the upcoming August Congressional recess.

Proving that the Campus Progress Lobby Day really does have a powerful impact, Ohio Senator Sherrod Brown went on record to say he would not filibuster the climate bill, as he has done in the past, after a visit from CP Student Representative Ethan Frey. Coincidence? Campus Progress thinks not.

While attendees from a variety of states and backgrounds had the unique opportunity to experience the daily life on Capitol Hill firsthand, the  Lobby Day also allowed these student activists to put out all of the things they learned at the Campus Progress Grassroots Training Day and during the main event of the Campus Progress National Conference into practice by effectively getting their voices heard on the issues that affect them the most.

Campus Progress Lobbyists – you rock!