Hayes tells students she’s fighting for them
U.S. Rep. Jahana Hayes, D-5, returned to her roots Tuesday — the educational kind — hosting nearly 30 high school students from a number of communities she represents.
The former national Teacher of the Year held a late afternoon pancake lunch at Paul’s Restaurant in Cheshire to update the students on what she has been doing since being sworn in two months ago as Connecticut’s first African American congresswoman.
She reminded the students that even though they can’t vote yet, their willingness to work tirelessly for causes they believe in makes them a force with which to be reckoned.
“I want to create a space where I can help you leverage your values,” Hayes said. “Government is about the people. It’s not about businesses and the economy.”
Hayes is spending much of the early days of her first term focusing on educational issues. She serves on the House Committee on Education and Labor.
Before arriving at the Cheshire event, Hayes was at Kennedy High School in Waterbury. There she participated in a press conference announcing legislation she has sponsored in the House that would make it clear the U.S. Department of Education can not allow school districts to use federal funds for the purpose of arming teachers.
One of the reasons Hayes said she ran for Congress was that U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos said last year that the agency would no longer prohibit school districts from using federal funds to purchase firearms or provide firearms training for teachers.
“There was no way I was going to carry a gun in my classroom,” she said.
Hayes said after her meeting with the students that she is optimistic the Democratic controlled Congress will pass some kind legislation to help college students deal with the debt loads they are carrying into young adulthood.
The congresswoman said she is still paying off her college loans.
“Absolutely,” Hayes said when asked whether she had any college loans. “I think I have more debt than everybody on the Hill.”
Some of the student who attended were members of the Pathways/Senderos Center, a program that is part of a part of Greater New Britain Teen Pregnancy Inc.
Program co-directors Heather Mills and Nick Jakubowski said the 60 students the program has each year are really enthusiastic when Hayes is around them; they hang on her every word.
“They liked to be talked with, not at,” Jakubowski said. “The kids relate to her because she’s a teacher and because she’s like they are: She grew up poor, was an unwed mother and has still achieved all that she has been able to achieve.”
Also in attendance was Dan Moran, a Cheshire High School freshman who worked on Hayes’ campaign last fall. Moran admitted to being a little star- struck when he first met Hayes.
“It’s like she shines a light on young people,” the 15-yearold said. “She’s very easy to relate to. It’s so rare in politics that you find someone who really excites people.”