by Will Schwarzenbach
Guest Blogger
Young Leader and Sr. Gas Supply Engineer at Questar Gas
Thanks to United Way of Salt Lakes Young Leaders program I was fortunate to get to spend an hour having breakfast with one of our newest state senators, Senator Aaron Osmond. The breakfast was attended by a full room of young professionals eager to learn more about the new senator and engage in an open dialogue on the issues important to UWSL Young Leaders. The morning began with brief introductions and Senator Osmond filling us in on his experiences and history. The tone for the morning was casual and informative with a nice breakfast as well.
In general, what we learned from Senator Osmond during our breakfast is that he is eager to learn, willing to get his hands dirty, interested in finding out what people truly think about issues, work collaboratively to find solutions to problems, and alter his course if he finds that what he believed to be true was actually false. The conversation quickly turned to the topic of education. It became clear that the Senator is very passionate about this topic.
Senator Osmond serves on the Public Education Appropriations Subcommittee, Education Interim Committee and will chair the Senate Education Standing Committee. He expressed a number of concerns about the current state of our public education system and shared some of his recommendations for resolving these issues. Yet he maintained his intent to work collaboratively on finding solutions rather than just legislating his ideas.
I found the conversation very refreshing. Not only was it good to hear from an enthusiastic young legislator, it was also nice to have the conversation in such a personal and informal setting. I really felt like I had an opportunity to get to know the Senator as opposed to just listening to a set of talking points.
