Gorbea visits Gladstone School for Reading Week

Jen Cowart
Posted 4/22/15

Secretary of State Nellie Gorbea visited Gladstone Elementary School for the start of Reading Week last Monday.

During her visit, Gorbea spoke at length to the students, letting them know a little …

This item is available in full to subscribers.

Please log in to continue

E-mail
Password
Log in

Gorbea visits Gladstone School for Reading Week

Posted

Secretary of State Nellie Gorbea visited Gladstone Elementary School for the start of Reading Week last Monday.

During her visit, Gorbea spoke at length to the students, letting them know a little bit about herself and the office she holds.

“I hold one of the five general offices in our state government,” she said. “There’s the office of governor, which is the state’s first woman governor of the state, Gina Raimondo; the lieutenant governor, Daniel McKee; my office, secretary of state; the treasurer, Seth Magaziner; and the attorney general, Peter Kilmartin.

“This is a special time in Rhode Island history,” she continued. “The governor and my elections are historic. Our governor is the first woman governor in the history of the state, and I am the first Hispanic elected statewide not just in Rhode Island, but in all of New England, so you have to be pretty proud of being Rhode Islanders.”

Gorbea gave the students some background about her life outside of her political office.

“I originally grew up in Puerto Rico, and I came to Rhode Island 20 years ago. My husband was an oceanography professor at that time,” she said. “I live in North Kingstown and I have three daughters who are 11, 9 and four, and they are in sixth grade, third grade and pre-K.”

Gorbea asked the students if they had any idea of what the secretary of state does, and when they weren’t sure, she gave them an idea of some of the responsibilities of her office.

“The secretary of state’s office keeps the records of the state,” she said. “People who want to start a business start with our office. We are responsible for the elections and voter registration, and the ballots that people vote on come from our office. We also house the state library and archives, all of the historical documents from people who started the state are there.”

Gorbea told the students about a couple of areas in which she felt young people such as themselves have made a big impact on bringing about change by speaking to adults about what they learned, such as with the dangers of smoking, the importance of recycling and taking care of the environment.

“I want to do a similar thing with voting. I want our students to go home and talk to their adults about how important it is to vote,” she said. “I want to make sure that everyone is engaged and involved in our government.”

She told the students that she’s hoping to be able to create some changes in the area of voting in order to make it more accessible to more people in the future.

“Historically, we’ve always voted on one day, a Tuesday in November, Election Day. I’m going to try to make it so that people can also vote on the Saturday and Sunday prior to Election, Day because sometimes people have a very hard time getting to the polls on that one day,” she said. “They might have to work, they might not be able to get out in time. They miss out. I’m hoping to change that.”

When asked how she controls everything, Gorbea reminded the students that government is not necessarily about control, and she related it to schoolyard politics.

“It’s more about how to get along with other people. It’s knowing how to convince people to do things the way you want to, but it’s not a dictatorship or a monarchy,” she said. “It’s similar to being on the playground at recess, getting people to play what you’d like to play and to all play nicely together.”

When asked if she liked being in government, Gorbea was emphatic about her answer.

“I love it. I get to get up every day and go to work in our beautiful State House. I get to think of ways to make our community work better,” she said. “My sister owns a company in Puerto Rico, and she loves her job, too. Everyone should love the job they do, and everyone loves something different.”

Gorbea invited the students to come and visit.

“I hope you’ll come and visit me,” she said. “Rhode Island has a wonderful history and people have always come to Rhode Island because it’s the kind of place that’s much more community-based than other places, and it’s been the home to many different kinds of people over time.”

Comments

No comments on this item Please log in to comment by clicking here