Spring Lobby Weekend (SLW) changed the course of my life. I hope you’ll give it the same chance for yours.
Mine is a long story full of magnetisms and opportunities that brought me to Quakerism and advocacy work, but it all started with SLW. You can hear more about it here.
I learned of SLW and FCNL at my first college visit as a sophomore in high school. A professor at Wilmington College told me about a four-day conference in Washington, D.C. where hundreds of young people advocated together for social justice with a Quaker lobby group.
My future needed an advocate; I decided right then that it would be me. I enrolled in Wilmington College and attended the 2015 SLW for environmental justice.
Lighting a Spark
SLW was the most empowering and inspirational experience of my college career. FCNL helped me find my confidence and voice to advocate for change. The valuable skills that I learned and practiced that weekend I continue to use today, community organizing, sharing my personal story, lobbying elected officials, and more.
There’s something about putting on your best blazer, carrying a crisp FCNL legislative ask, and marching through the echoing marble hallways of Congress to your representative’s door—knowing that hundreds of your peers are doing the same thing at that very moment—that makes you feel like you’re capable of changing the world. I loved it so much that I attended in 2016, 2017, 2018 as well.
Every spring I returned home to Ohio hungry for more opportunities to make change. SLW helped open doors for new experiences. I interned for my Representative’s in-district office; I traveled to D.C. to lobby Congress with agricultural organizations: I served in FCNL’s Advocacy Corps—organizing my community around climate change solutions; and ultimately came to work as an FCNL Young Fellow.
Every subsequent employer and mentor I encountered was impressed by the SLW skills and experience on my resume.
