Fiona Mahurin, Tiffany Finck-Haynes and Tess Knowles-Thompson, all seniors, are students in Tim Kipp's Civic Leadership class, and all are members of Child Labor Education and Action (CLEA).

"Through the class, we were able to incorporate the work we do in CLEA into our assignments in Civic Leadership," Knowles-Thomson said.

"We drafted the bill in Elections and Government class last year for Model Congress," Finck-Haynes said. "We contacted (state Rep.) Sarah Edwards, and she decided to sponsor the bill. From there, she sent it to a lawyer who worked with legislation for the state. They took our bill and the sample legislation that Sweat-Free communities had - it's an organization that works with states and cities -- and drafted a bill that mirrored the legislation that Maine had adopted."

"It's been quite the process," said Knowles-Thompson.

Finck-Haynes continued the story.

"Last year in March, three of us went and testified in the House Government Operations Committee," she said. "They were really receptive to the concept of the bill, but because it was really late in the session and they were wrapping up, the bill didn't get out of committee."

Knowles-Thompson said that this year CLEA has concentrated on improving the wording of the bill.

"We're trying to come up with something that's as effective as it can be for the workers in the factories, but something that will be passable and acceptable to the legislators," said Finck-Haynes.

"Six states have already passed legislation -- Illinois, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maine and California," she added.

"It's such a growing movement right now, and every state that joins is making more of a difference and impacting the lives of workers," she said. "If Vermont becomes sweat-free, it's more of a positive change."

"With state and local governments coming together, it will send a huge message to companies that it's time for them to change their practices," Mahurin explained.

"State and local governments nationally have a combined buying power of $400 billion," she went on. "So if we pool our resources, we have a lot of leverage to make change. To put that number in perspective, it's more than we import from China."

Knowles-Thompson said that she is interested in how politics can affect lives.

"Making changes within politics in our own country will make a difference for workers abroad," she said. "It's really important to take action within our own state. I'm also really interested in political science, so it was important for me to take my passion and put it into action."

"It's been really exciting to be working with Sarah Edwards on this," she continued. "I didn't know much about the state Legislature before, and it's been so interesting to see how complicated it is -- the bureaucracy. It's really exciting to know that if we do pass this legislation, we're contributing to a huge movement in our country and around the world to make sweat-free conditions and to improve conditions for workers around the world.

"With every meeting we have with Sarah Edwards and people from Sweat-Free Communities, we learn so much," Finck-Haynes said, "not just about legislation, but about how adults work together and groups work together and how we have influence in the system with our power as students. It's exciting to realize how much impact we can have and how much change we can create."

The students are learning about the role of compromise in the political process.

"It's difficult when there are things we really want to have in the bill, and we have to compromise to have a bill that will pass in the Legislature," Finck-Haynes commented.

Mahurin agreed.

"We can only compromise with the idea that we'll strengthen the bill in the future -- the near future," she said. "We've been trying really hard not to water it down."

"It's difficult for me because if we do pass the bill, there won't be an immediate change for people working in sweatshops," Knowles-Thompson said. "As the movement grows, as more and more states pass bills like this, there will be more of a change, because more companies will be receptive to these changes -- but until then it will be hard to ensure that these changes are being made."

The students have been surprised to see how seriously legislators have taken their efforts.

"I thought that people would say, 'Oh, you're just kids, you don't know anything' -- but they've taken us seriously," Mahurin said. "They've been really interested in what we have to say."

"When we were testifying on behalf of the bill, there were several people we expected harsh criticism from. We thought that they would write us off just because we were students, or treat us like adults they didn't agree with," Finck-Haynes recalled. "Because we were students, they ended up being more supportive of what we were doing, because they saw that young people were getting involved in the political process, and in the long run it's ended up helping our bill more than anything else."

"I'm surprised by how far-reaching our voices can be, and how excited people can become, not just adults but other students," Knowles-Thompson added. "We've been in contact with students from Montpelier who have a similar group, and they're excited about the bill and ready to jump on board and help us in any way they can."

After graduation from BUHS, all three students are headed for college, and all three are planning to continue their political activism.

Finck-Haynes plans to major in international relations, and Knowles-Thompson is looking forward to studying abroad.

"I see working for the United Nations, or a nongovernmental organization or the government," she said, "something that will continue my work in social justice."

Mahurin said, "I'm excited about the possibility of interning at the National Labor Committee or Human Rights Watch -- so I'm not stopping."

The students may be reached at buhs.clea@gmail.com for more information, or to invite them to present workshops for schools or organizations.

Maggie Cassidy teaches French at BUHS.