By Rigoberto Frausto Martinez
“The Secretary of State, appointed by the President with the advice and consent of the Senate, is the President’s chief foreign affairs adviser. The Secretary carries out the President’s foreign policies through the State Department and the Foreign Service of the United States” (US Department of State). With this quote in mind, we can kind of get a vague idea of what a Secretary of State does for one’s community. Ramiro Lopez is a great example of a leader who follows these given guidelines of leadership. I have personally seen him “carry out policies” here at Youth Government. He was early prompted to join Youth Government when a teacher during Covid saw a spark of interest in him for debate. She encouraged him to join and since then, he “hit it off”. After becoming Secretary of State for Youth Government, he fully fulfilled his duties and planned on making a higher voter turnout for our Youth Government candidates. These duties include mentoring other rising candidates for office, making sure all schedules are prepped and ready to go, and any type of help in general regarding Youth Government.
As any great Secretary of State, he is willing to do anything to support and help his community. “I think the job is very important. Election integrity is vital to the democracy in which we live in, while valuing and protecting that democracy is important” (Ramiro Lopez). Given that, we can clearly see that many of the USA’s Secretary of State’s views line up with Ramiro Lopez’s views. Another key factor that impacts and drives Ramiro Lopez’s views is all the poverty that he has experienced and seen first hand. “My school is 92% in poverty… so seeing a lot of kids around me struggle with basic things like finding clothes, basic necessities at home, food. These issues need to be tackled. Having leaders in our community is what’s going to tackle these issues.” (Ramiro Lopez). In conclusion, he is a great example of how a Secretary of State should lead and look like. For example, his favorite quote states, that “Democracy isn’t learned, isn’t just given to the next generation, It’s taught and it’s learned, and cannot be inherited especially in a time of crisis.” (Hawkins, President of the Tossin Teachers College).
- https://drive.google.com/file/d/1SiM4yo1pG0BMMFsN2RotNDOd_pFM0lxa/view?usp=drive_link
- https://drive.google.com/file/d/1DHpxsf0JhY09wSy6NQYWtaMnK3NTqrPu/view?usp=drive_link
- U.S. Department of State. (2020, December 1). Duties of the secretary of State – United States Department of State. U.S. Department of State.
https://www.state.gov/duties-of-the-secretary-of-state/#:~:text=The%20Secretary%20of%20State%2C%20appointed,Service%20of%20the%20United%20States.
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