Oregon's new kid governor is from Pleasant Hill

Emerie Martin with her puppy in her campaign video.
Emerie Martin (screenshot from campaign video)

Oregon has a new kid governor. Emerie Martin is a student at Pleasant Hill Elementary School. Her community issue is animal abuse in Oregon, as she described in the campaign video she submitted.

“I have put together a three-point plan,” Emerie Martin said. ”This plan can help stop animal abuse. The first part of my plan is to create “Lend a Paw”. “Lend a Paw” is a shelter program. It can help educate new pet owners on how to take care of their animals. And I believe that education can prevent animal abuse.”

Oregon’s Kid Governor is open to all 5th graders in the state. This year 17 fifth graders submitted campaign videos. They were narrowed down to 7 and then Oregon 5th graders voted for the winner.

The kid governor program was started by the Connecticut Democracy Center in 2015 to introduce Civics Education to 5th graders. Oregon became the 2nd state in the nation to implement the program in 2017.

Copyright 2021 KLCC.

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Rachael McDonald is KLCC’s host for All Things Considered on weekday afternoons. She also is the editor of the KLCC Extra, the daily digital newspaper. Rachael has a BA in English from the University of Oregon. She started out in public radio as a newsroom volunteer at KLCC in 2000.