Napa Valley Register -- Napa High students get civics lesson from Mike Thompson

Napa High School students gathered in the District Auditorium on Tuesday to get a first-hand account of Congress — directly from their congressman, Mike Thompson.

When asked for the best advice he could give to high school students, Thompson said to stay in school, practice critical thinking, and find a job they can do well and enjoy.

"Give back to your community," Thompson said. "Make sure you can communicate well and be analytical."

Many American teenagers have little to no involvement in politics, teachers say.

"Oftentimes students feel removed from politics, for a number of reasons, and we are trying to show our students that they can be involved, and that our representatives in Congress do work for them," said Amy Gibson, who teaches geography, government and economics at Napa High.

Senior Ricardo Vivanco said teens' disinterest in politics is a deliberate choice.

"I don't think teens are removed from politics," Vivanco said. "I think most remove themselves from politics."

Because most teenagers can't vote, senior Madelena Music said students typically "don't care" about political issues. She also said the government shutdown — which occurred in October last year — showed that even politicians can "act like teenagers."

"Nothing ever seems to get done," Music said. "Growing up, we haven't seen (government) be effective."

Tuesday's meeting was initially intended for Napa High School's AP Government students, who will be taking their AP exam within a month, but the meeting was later expanded to include all seniors and juniors who have U.S. history during 6th period. About 120 kids attended.

Thompson — who is running for re-election — was asked to speak to the students about a typical day in Congress, what committees he sits on, and how teenagers can get involved in politics.

At the end, Thompson took questions from the audience — which ranged from where he went to college to explaining his position on immigration reform.

Regarding immigration, Thompson, a Democrat, said he has "high hopes" that a comprehensive immigration reform plan will soon achieve bipartisan support. Such a plan is all the more necessary, he said, due to the growing population of Latinos in the U.S.

"The Republican hierarchy understands that if they don't do something on immigration reform, they're finished as a national party," Thompson said.

Regarding his opinion on the death penalty, Thompson said he could see the issue from both sides. While he's always been a supporter, he also recognized that mistakes have been made in the courts, and innocent lives have been taken.

Vivanco said that, if there had been more time, he would have liked to have asked about Thompson's position on abortion.

"When he said, ‘No life should be taken, especially when it's innocent,' I wanted to ask how he felt about abortion," Vivanco said. "It sounded like the taking of an innocent child's life."

Senior Vanessa Perez said she wished more time could have been spent Tuesday talking about immigration, considering the high population of Latinos.

"I feel like it's a topic that needs to be discussed more," Perez said.

Thompson said one of the biggest lessons he hoped to teach the students was to stay in school. He shared that he dropped out of St. Helena High School at the end of his basketball season, thinking he knew more than his parents or teachers. He then joined the Army, where he got his GED and served in Vietnam. He later earned his high school diploma while finishing graduate school.

"The way you guys are doing it is the best way to do it," Thompson said. "It was absolutely foolish on my part (to drop out). When I got out of high school, I didn't know left from right."

Thompson told the high school students that they were the country's "next leaders."

"You're going to have to run our cities, our towns ... and our government," he said. "I have high hopes for you guys."