By Jessica Northam
While some Bearkats celebrated Sam Houston’s birthday in Austin, others stayed in Huntsville to honor one of the greatest Republican presidents. On February 28th, the LEAP Ambassadors had the opportunity to volunteer with the Republican Party of Walker County to help host this year’s Annual Reagan Dinner. Held in the Lowman Student Center Ballroom, the dinner brings community members, elected officials, and students together in order to honor positive civic leadership.
When the Ballroom doors opened, I joined other volunteers Makayla Mason, Ashley Nell, and Stephanie Fors to greet guests, sign them in, and escort them to their tables. When the ceremony began, everyone took their seats to prepare for the wonderful dinner ahead of them. At our table we had the pleasure of spending time with the guest of honor, Land Commissioner George P. Bush. There were many other officials present during the reception including County Judge Danny Pierce, Walker County Republican Women President Terry Stivers, and 10th Court of Appeals Chief Justice Tom Gray, to name a few. We even had the opportunity to get a picture of all the officials present at the end of the ceremony.
As the introductory ceremonies began Makayla was asked to lead the pledge, and did a great job!
After a quick remarks from WCRP Chair Linda McKenzie, Vice Chair Richard Yawn…
…and an invocation from Justice Gray, dinner was served. As the evening progressed, the students also had the chance to chat with State Republican Executive Committee Chairman Mike McCloskey and Chairwoman Nita Davidson and Senator Schwertner’s College Station District Director Jordan Strauss.
When everyone was finished with dinner, Jordan Strauss introduced George P. Bush for his speech. Commissioner Bush was an excellent speaker who shared a personal story of his experience with Ronald Reagan.
Throughout his speech, he emphasized the great respect he had for President Reagan. He viewed President Reagan as one of the best Presidents in history. He then went on to talk about his plan as Commissioner and even took questions from the audience. Considering his position in government, we all thought it was very brave of him! He was a very charismatic speaker and everyone seemed to thoroughly enjoy his speech.
After he concluded his speech and the dinner was over, everyone lined up to take photos with many of the respected leaders in our community. We too waited patiently and snapped a few photos with Commissioner Bush and Chief Justice Gray.
As guests left and we stayed to help with cleaning, we reminisced on the enjoyable evening with had. We would like to thank the Republican Party of Walker County for inviting us to such a wonderful event!
Center for Law, Engagement, and Politics 