Congresswoman Zoe Lofgren in the House

It’s not every day that an elected official visits Lincoln, but on Monday, April 20, 2015, Congresswoman Zoe Lofgren did.

Lofgren, a member of the California Democratic Party, has been in office since 1995. She represents the 19th district in California and is on the House Judiciary Committee, the House Science, Space and Technology Committee, and the Committee on House Administration. Previously, she was the chair of the Subcommittee on Immigration and Border Security.

Lofgren was invited to see a presentation given by the AP Computer Science (APCS) class. Geometry teacher, Mrs. Nancy Reid, who planned the event, gave a short speech and thanked the congresswoman for taking some time out of her busy schedule to watch the APCS presentation. She also informed everyone in the audience that there was light breakfast and coffee available. Mrs. Reid then pointed out a prosthetic arm printed from Lincoln’s own 3-D printer. Mrs. Reid said, “This can be used as a real prosthetic for people who have lost their own arm.”

Lincoln’s APCS students gave a presentation about the rise of computer science and highlighted the need for more workers in the IT sector. They also talked about the demographics of the same sector — less than ten percent of the employees are non-white.

Senior Nora Mcginley is one of the original founders of the Computer Science club and is currently enrolled in APCS. She said, “I was surprised by how willing the congresswoman was to listen — she was very proactive and engaged.”

“She genuinely wanted feedback, which was nice. After the presentation she asked us to come up with ways to get people involved with computer science; we are going to meet up with her staff and try to make a bill that she can introduce,” said Mcginley.

The power point included many facts, each slide presented by a different student. The presentation included the percentage of women and men involved in computer science in the entire nation compared to the students at Lincoln. Also, it discussed why computer science is important and how it is used.

Students referred to companies such as Apple and eBay, which hire employees who are computer science literate. Then, a couple of the slides displayed questions dedicated to Congresswoman Lofgren regarding how the federal government is willing to help advance the computer science era.

To show how Lincoln has embraced progress in computer science, Lincoln will be adding a new class for the 2015-16 school year, called “Intro to Computer Science.” In addition, “AP Computer Science Principles” will be added as a third course for the 2016-17 year.

APCS is a curriculum taught by volunteer engineers from the Silicon Valley, and is widely seen as a great way to introduce high school students to programming. The people who are teaching actually work in big companies like eBay or Google, so they bring a lot of knowledge and experience to the classroom.

Afterwards, Lofgren spent a class period with AP Government students. She introduced who she is — from childhood, to her personal life, to her path in Washington. Then she answered questions regarding politicians, policies, and her opinions.

One of the questions was asked by senior, Josh Pono: “How do you feel about President Obama?” After a light laughter, the congresswoman answered, “He’s been strong and smart on foreign policy for the most part. I think he has been good on civil rights and immigration as well. There are more things I wish he could achieve but nonetheless I am glad I support him.”

Senior Hannah Michelberg questioned about the government being corrupt.

“I don’t think it is corrupt, but there is too much influence from campaign financing. I thought that the Citizens United Supreme Court decision is one of the worst decisions they have ever made,” said Lofgren.

Another question was asked by senior Paulina Acosta regarding the congresswoman’s experience as a female politician. In return, Lofgren talked about how being a woman never influenced her decisions and she has rarely felt discriminated against. She told a story from before she became a congresswoman. She was dining with her husband and the congressman she was going to replace, and the congressman ran into a friend and said, “Meet the person who will be taking my seat next year.” The friend put out his hand to shake with Lofgren’s husband, assuming that the male would be the next congressman. Congresswoman Lofgren did not let this incident get to her though.

Finally, Principal Matthew Hewitson took a picture of all the students in attendance with the congresswoman.

Senior Maria De La Cruz said, “It was a great experience to meet a congresswoman and it was even better to be able to ask her questions because they really helped us understand the congresswoman and government itself.”