Beverly Byron: “I have not forgotten what side I belong on. Let me, first of all, say I am delighted to share with some of our members…”

“I have not forgotten what side I belong on. Let me, first of all, say I am delighted to share with some of our members who have not participated in the Congress to College Program some of the things they have done. I made a commitment to myself several years ago that I would give back at least one visit a year to a college campus, and I started saying I am giving it back. Actually, I have gained so much from each and every one of those visits. The program has grown 350 percent since 2002. There is no question that it is making an impact on college campuses. We are now finding campuses that are saying can we get former Members to come. It is a commitment of basically 2 days. Last fall, Barry Goldwater, on my note here it says from California, although Barry is living in Arizona right now, and I went to central Michigan. Well, I have a husband from Michigan, and I was not familiar with where central Michigan is. It is a wonderful, wonderful school, a very large school, a very exciting school. We spent 2 days interacting with the students, the faculty, the local community, a senior citizen center, and the media. One of the things that I like to stress with the college students, not only is Congress the ultimate for many people in the political arena, but government service is a wonderful thing for them to be involved in. And as I looked around the room, they kind of were glazing over a little.…”