Often, young people feel disconnected from the political process, assuming their voices are not important because of their age. To help them understand how vitally important their ideas and opinions are, the annual Youth in Government Day event, hosted by the Oakland County Board of Commissioners, gave more than 120 local high school students – from public, private and charter schools – a hands-on experience to show them their potential as future leaders.

Making Their Voice Heard

“Do you keep in mind what’s important to the youth when making decisions?”

A simple but powerful question posed by a student during a panel discussion with Oakland County elected officials, or their representatives, demonstrated how much the attendees are watching and listening to the world around them.

Students had an opportunity to make their voices heard and ask questions about topics weighing on their minds such as climate change, sustainability measures and how federal mandates impact local government. Overwhelmingly, the panel applauded their courage to ask the tough questions. Many of them encouraged them to get more deeply informed and involved at the state and federal levels of government where decisions about how their lives will be shaped are being made.

A variety of commissioners were on hand throughout the day, talking with students and listening to what’s important to them as high school students.

Becoming an Informed Voter 

Critical thinking and weighing differing viewpoints are important, especially when preparing to vote. A special ballot created by Clerk Lisa Brown’s office for a mock election listed an intriguing proposal: Should a proposal for a new four-day school week be adopted? 

Most students quickly answered the seemingly easy question. However, with educators from Michigan State University Extension 4-H moderating small group discussions and by listening to the viewpoints of fellow students from other school districts, the answers no longer seemed so clear cut. Viewpoints about how a change could impact athletics, study load, teacher compensation and more, broadened the thinking from, “How does this impact me?” to “How does this impact my family, my community or local infrastructure?”  

Weighing the positives and negatives, listening and learning from each other’s perspectives, students cast ballots, officially having their voices heard on where they stand on the issue. Feeding ballots into tabulators and engaging in this mock election gave students a real-life view into the voting process and readied them for participation in a formal election.  

The results: students voted down the proposal, electing to keep the traditional a five-day school week in place.  

Courtrooms, County Parks and K9s 

The jammed-packed day also showcased many different areas of county government, including: 

• Visits to courtrooms where students participated in mock sentencing or trials and engaged in Q&A sessions with the judges.  
• Learning about summer job opportunities with Oakland County Parks  
• Demos with members of the Oakland County Sheriff’s Office K9 Unit showing the impressive abilities of the four-legged officers in sniffing out narcotics and explosives on command – and charming just about everyone in attendance.  

Through the day’s sessions, Youth in Government Day 2025 achieved its goal of showing high schoolers that they are never too young to make a difference.  

The Board extends very special thanks to longtime event partner Michigan State University Extension 4-H and everyone who helped make the day a success: 

For more on the day’s events, visit the Board’s website or check out the recap video: https://bit.ly/OCYIGDayVideo.

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