Juniors Sarah King and Sheila Ramirez spent their weekend in Washington, D.C. advocating for children at Save the Children’s Advocacy Summit. The summit began on Sunday, March 26 and ended on Tuesday, March 28.

During their three-day trip, King and Ramirez took part in trainings, conferences, and workshops that focused on access to early education programs in the United States and ending preventable deaths of mothers and children worldwide. For 2017, these are primary areas of focus of the Save the Children Action Network, the political advocacy branch of Save the Children.

In addition to students, the Advocacy Summit convened congressional leaders, journalists, and policy experts such as Dr. Jill Biden, Jonathan Capehart, Tom Sheridan, and United States Senator Jeanne Shaheen.

On the final day of the summit, the ambassadors lobbied on Capitol Hill and met with members of Congress. King and Ramirez lobbied for congressional delegation to support funding for HHS and Head Start during the appropriations process.

King urges us all to fight for the causes we hold close to us. She posted, “I knew what was important to me and I found a way to express it – I suggest [we] all do the same. [We will] never understand the magnitude of [our] power until [we] do. .”

Ramirez is a junior social work major and political science minor from Lawrence, MA. In addition to her duties as a resident assistant, Ramirez is the vice president of her class and has interned with political campaigns and her local mayor. She also coordinates “Bring It! After School,” a non-profit that accommodates diverse populations of students.

King is a junior communication and politics double major from Cumberland, RI. On the Hilltop, she is involved with the SGA, serving on the executive board and public relations committee. She is also on the executive board for the Saint Anselm College Democrats and has worked for the political campaigns of Hillary Clinton and Garth Corriveau, the AAA Office of Public Affairs, and the NHIOP.

In 2016, King was selected to be an advocacy ambassador for Save the Children, an international organization that promotes children’s health and wellbeing. Through her work with Save the Children, she participated in an Advocacy Summit in Washington, D.C., April 10 to April 12, 2016.