Teen magazine, Justine, hosted a panel discussion at The University of Mississippi September 9, 2008. The members of the panel were all winners of contests, and deservingly so. The kids on this panel all showed an intelligent view of politics today. Several of the kids on this panel are already involved in government as pages for the Senate, Model UN, Mayor's Council, and various other organizations. These kids were majority public school students which go to show that our school systems offer many opportunities to get involved with real-world issues.

The most popular issue among the panel seemed to be the environment. They stressed the importance of finding a reliable, long-term use alternative fuel. Also of interest to them is not wasting time and money on wasteful trials and errors but to put together a solid plan ahead of time.

Also, education was an important issue to them. Many of the panelists are concerned with the rising costs of college. One member of the panel praised the Hope Scholarship in Tennessee. I can tell you from personal experience that this scholarship works well in Georgia, however it makes it more difficult to get into an instate college because your test scores and GPA must be much higher to pass admission standards as they rise.