Samantha Bayne, sophomore, didn’t go skiing for winter break nor did she go to the beach.  Instead she went to Washington D.C to lobby with Missouri governors and house representatives.

Bayne took off to our nation’s capital with her temple congregation, Shaare Emeth, on Friday January 10^th.

Bayne didn’t spend all of her time soaking up the exhibits at the Smithsonian museums, in fact, she spent a full 3 days in programs learning about homelessness and campaign finances.  After many programs, her lobbying group went to capitol hill to lobby with many staffers.

“We met with the staff of the senators and the house representatives from Missouri,” said Bayne. It was really cool to see all of the issues going on in D.C and it was even more interesting to be a part of it.

Bayne’s group was lobbying, along with 300 reform jews from across the country, on behalf of the Religion Action Center (RAC).

The RAC is a group that educates and mobilizes the Reform Jewish community on legislative and social concerns, advocating on more than 70 different issues, including economic justice, civil rights, religious liberty, Israel and more.

Bayne said the experience was beneficial for her personally because she wants to go into the field of politics in the future.  Bayne said with this organization there are many internships available and she hopes to apply for some in college.

Bayne said her experience affected her in a really positive way and she hopes to do similar work soon.

“I learned how the world is a lot bigger than just St. Louis.  There’s a lot of social justice issues that can be solved through any religious beliefs,” Bayne said.