One day last fall, I had just finished my homework, and I was looking through my phone. In my inbox, I see an email from my Temple. Now, I am not particularly involved in my local religious organization, and I usually delete most of their emails, but this one caught my eye. "Opportunity for High School Students! Travel to Washington D.C. to lobby and meet our nation's leaders!" Little did I know, this email would change my life.

Not even two months later, I was literally standing on the front steps of the capital building with Congressman Mondaire Jones of New York's 17th Congressional district.

This trip began because one of the leaders of our local Temple knew a staff member of Congressman Mondaire Jones, and we were actually able to schedule a time to meet. This is extremely rare on such short notice given our congresspeople's busy schedules, but Mr. Jones expressed that he took every chance he could get to meet with the children of our nation. So, a group of my friends and I immediately signed up for this opportunity. We hastily planned and packed, and it was quite hectic. And then of course we actually had to prepare what to say to him. Now, the adults who accompanied us gave us so much greatly appreciated assistance, but, at the end of the day, it was going to be a meeting between Mr. Jones and us kids. We decided on a variety of topics to talk about that were relevant to us including stress and mental health in the public school system, gun violence and gun laws, and the environment. We spent the two nights before our meeting working late into the night perfecting our speeches and getting prepared.

When the day finally came, it was surreal. This was really a once-in-a-lifetime experience that had simply fallen into my lap. Or, rather, my inbox. We presented our points beautifully and Mr. Jones gave us powerful responses that showed how much we made a difference. It was truly a magical experience that we—teens—made a difference.