Ten US Department of State Sponsored Programs students had the opportunity to attend oral arguments of an interesting case being heard before the Washington State Supreme Court: privacy issues surrounding cell phone use. Justices Charlie Wiggins & Cheryl Gordon-McCloud then spoke with the students about the history of the court and justice systems.

One of the YES students is from Albania, which was especially interesting to Justice Wiggins as he participated in judicial conferences in Albania in the early nineties to assist with that county’s transition from communism to democracy.

In addition to a tour which highlighted the interesting history of the capital building (where did all that marble come from?!), students also learned about the bicameral legislative process.  Although they were not able to meet with the Governor, they were invited into the Lt Governor’s office, where they made themselves at home…future leaders!

One of the Congress-Bundestag students from Germany was a Senate Page for a week earlier in his exchange, and he was able to make our experience even more interesting as he could explain how the Senate really operates!

Photo courtesy Linda Sohlberg: (l. to r.): Mohammed (YES Yemen), Rita (FLEX Ukraine), Lyuba (FLEX Kazakhstan), Klaudia (YES Albania), Tim (CBYX Germany), Daniel (FLEX Moldova), Anum & Saba (YES Pakistan), Namrata (YES Bangladesh) and Eman (YES Bahrain).