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From left, an unidentified Detroit Economic Club sponsor, Ryan Tisdale, David Case, Chris Schmelz, former Gov. Mike Huckabee, Vanessa Young, DEC Presiding Officer Stephen Polk, Ashley Rock, Drew Martin, CHS teacher Mike Pedlow, Matt Johnson, Anna Schroen, another unidentified DEC sponsor, and Anna Rowland are seen Jan. 11 at a Detroit Economic Club luncheon at which GOP presidential candidate Huckabee spoke. The high school seniors also had a chance to meet privately and ask questions of Huckabee.
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A group of Chelsea High School seniors recently had the chance to come face-to-face with the presidential campaign, courtesy of the Detroit Economic Club.
Nine young men and women in Dave Pedlow's economics class were among several school groups invited to meet Republican candidate Mike Huckabee during his Jan. 11 appearance at the Detroit Economic Club.
They were not only guests for the luncheon and Huckabee's speech, they were taken backstage to meet personally with the former Arkansas governor and ask questions of him.
"I told them, 'How many chances are you going to have to shake hands with a presidential candidate?'" Pedlow said. "It was a real neat thing for them to go down there and do that."
Pedlow noted that the DEC invited eight to 10 schools to the luncheon event, and member businesses paid for it all.
In recent weeks several candidates have been asked to speak to the influential group of corporate decision-makers and political opinion-setters.
"I had been in discussions with them for months on the date, and we finally settled on Jan. 11," Pedlow added.
The girls were Anna Schroen, Vanessa Young, Ashley Rock and Anna Rowland.
The boys were David Case, Ryan Tisdale, Drew Martin, Matt Johnson and Chris Schmelz.
All were honored to be invited, and kept an open mind on what they heard.
"We had a chance for a personal Q&A with Huckabee before the speech, then lunch and his speech," Schroen said. "It was cool to go."
"Since we're all going to be voting in the November election, it was good to see a candidate," said Rowland.
"Mr. Pedlow has been talking about taxes; we can now make a more informed decision," said Rock.
"Now I really want to see other candidates," said Young. "He was really funny, and personable."
"A lot of people would find him tolerable," Schroen said. "A lot of what he said made sense."
Pedlow said the students had discussed Huckabee's tax plan in class, but didn't look at the event from a political point of view.
"We looked at it more from an economic standpoint," Pedlow said.
"We kind of talked about tax structure in class, so his talk made a lot of sense," said Case.
Tisdale added: "He talked about the Michigan economy a lot and his fair tax plan."
"It was neat to think he might possibly be president and we got to meet him," Johnson said.
Unfortunately for Huckabee, his personal charisma and persuasiveness weren't quite enough for this crowd.
"I'm just getting interested in politics; I didn't hear anything that really changed my mind," said Martin.
"I liked him more after he talked, but not enough to make me want to vote for him," Johnson said.
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