Students from South Forsyth High School went to the Gold Dome this week to see the state legislature in action.

On Tuesday, the senior students went to the Capitol as part of AP (Advance Placement) Day at the Hill, where they had the chance to check out a legislative session, tour the capital and meeting with District 27 state Sen. Michael Williams, who represents the majority of Forsyth County. 

“We were invited because we were recognized for four years of distinction for our school having kids with passing scores on the AP test,” said teacher Tom Wolff. “This was the first time we went down there, and they basically gave us this tour-de-force of how things operate at the Capitol.”

Students said were recognized on the senate floor by Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle.

“We went to the senate floor and we were in the gallery,” said Will Lodgson “We were recognized there, so the lieutenant governor mentioned our school and congratulated our school and then us for trying to improve AP [and] make people more aware of it.” 

South Forsyth was one of more than 20 high schools from across the state that attended, for a total of more than 150 students. 

Much of the day was dedicated to topics dealing with education.

“We got to see the whole process of what it’s like for them to change things in education and what the concerns were when they were trying to make changes,” said student Aashvi Patel.

Students were also able to speak with and ask questions of their state senator. 

“We sat down for probably 40 minutes [for a] very specific interview with Michael Williams,” Wolff said. “He let us ask him anything, so I think that was good for the kids to just get to meet him and ask him anything that they wanted.”

Brad Frilot teaches AP government classes at the school and said going to the Capitol gave students a real-life example of what they study.

“To be able to have them see the things we talk about in class actually going on makes it more relatable,” he said. “Throughout the day, we were kind of pointing out things from class that were going on in the Capitol and the committees.

He said an example was the class studying budgets, which came up during the discussions. Wolff, a history teacher, said he was able to make similar points about the displays and historical items at the Capitol.