Thirteen-year-old Palisadian Michael Lehrhoff believes every child deserves a strong start in life, including good health and an early education. Last month, the second-generation Palisadian attended the Save the Children’s Annual Advocacy Summit in Washington, D.C. to make his message heard.
Lehrhoff traveled to Capitol Hill on a scholarship granted to him for a website he created to raise awareness for Save the Children. The Carlthorp student created the website – his first ever – as an extension of a school project. Impressed by his efforts, school officials contacted the CEO of Save the Children, who subsequently invited Lehrhoff to join them on the Hill as their guest.
The two-day summit provided Lehrhoff and other student activists the opportunity to engage withpanelists and speakers from both ends of the spectrum, as well as notable public personalities and provided information about the economic benefits of investing in early childhood advocacy, how social media can be used to help the cause and more.
“My intention was to convince the Congressmen and women and representatives of the issues that need to be addressed,” Lehrhoff said. “It is very important that we come together to help reduce child labor in places of extreme poverty, like Bangladesh, for example.”
During the two-day summit, the sixth grade student said he developed important skills needed to influence policymakers and spoke directly to Congresspersons and legislative representatives on behalf of children’s issues worldwide.
“The most important thing about being in Washington D.C. was being given a voice that I could share with so many others,” Lehrhoff said. “You have a voice and when you can use it to help other people, that’s an amazing thing.”
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