Congressman Rudy Yakym, left, and Lt. Gov. Suzanne Crouch address Lakeland Christian Academy students on Friday, Jan. 26.

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By Liz Shepherd
InkFreeNews

WINONA LAKE — Several Indiana politicians took part in a Q&A session with Lakeland Christian Academy students in Winona Lake on Friday, Jan. 26.

Those on the panel included Congressman Rudy Yakym, Lt. Gov. Suzanne Crouch, State Sen. Ryan Mishler, and State Rep. Craig Snow.

The panel began with each politician providing background information on themselves and detailing how they got into politics.

One student asked the group what their thoughts are on “woke ideologies” in public schools and how the state of Indiana is combating that.

Crouch recalled a college admissions cheating scandal from 2019 involving Hollywood celebrities.

“In this upside down, topsy-turvy woke culture that we live in, if you cheat getting into college, you go to jail,” said Crouch. “But if you cheat getting into this country, you can go to college. It doesn’t make any sense. The two-tiered justice system in this country, where liberal prosecutors and judges and left-wing media are targeting conservatives … it cannot be tolerated. We have to take stands and push back on liberal culture that is permeating every aspect of our society, particularly our schools, and trying to indoctrinate and manipulate our young people. We should be able to live our lives without our children being told how they should think and act.”

Yakym said he believed federal government should not be involved in local educational systems and emphasized the importance of educational choice.

“Educational choice helps facilitate good behavior,” said Yakym. “Our state officials have done a phenomenal job in Indiana of ensuring educational choice and they are being commended for that.”

He also focused on the importance of knowing who is being elected to serve on school boards, noting the role they play in the hiring process for staff within schools.

Another student asked Mishler and Snow about how they address disagreements with their colleagues and constituents.

“It’s so important to treat the other person with respect and listen,” said Snow. “You’ve got to be able to listen. It’s the way that we ask them to share their side of the story to help me understand where they’re coming from, and then I’ll engage with my thoughts and opinions, but again, in a way that’s respectful. I think that’s something we’ve kind of lost in society, especially when you hide behind a screen.”

“I don’t like conflict and it’s hard for me to say ‘no’ sometimes,” said Mishler. “I had to grow some thick skin to learn to say ‘no.’ I confront people face-to-face, in-person. But I find that if you’re honest with them and tell them why, you walk away and go, ‘Oh, that wasn’t so bad.’ At the end of the day, I just want all our members to feel like I was fair.”

Following the Q&A session with students, Yakym spoke with local media about securing the U.S.-Mexico border and improving local transportation.

“We need to secure the southern border,” said Yakym. “The southern border’s been absolutely flung wide open by this administration. There are negotiations that are ongoing in the Senate to take border security and tie it to other national security, but there is no bill for us to review yet. The bill that we have passed, H.R.2, the most comprehensive border security package in the history of the country, we passed that bill over a year ago…and we’ve called on our Senate Democrat colleagues to pass that same bill.”

Yakym said part of his role in sitting on the House’s Transportation & Infrastructure Committee is exercising oversight over the transportation department in the executive branch.

“Indiana is dead last behind even all the territories, in discretionary grants awarded,” said Yakym. “We’re holding the administration accountable, working with our local governments on their applications for these discretionary grants because they need to be coming to the Hoosier state.”