Stephanie Gross

Barbara Bush addressed students at a symposium organized by government professor Larry J. Sabato's (seated, right) Youth Leadership Initiative.

Bush stumps for involvement in politics

Former first lady Barbara Bush appealed to students and community members to "get involved" in politics during a visit to U.Va. Feb. 9. Bush spoke to a standing-room-only crowd in Newcomb Hall Ballroom on her experiences as first lady and the role of today's youth in politics. "I came to encourage you to learn as much as you can about this great democracy," she said. "This election is more about your future than your parents."

She also addressed the issue of public disillusionment with politics and politicians, and urged the young people in the audience to change that climate. "We need energy, ideas and youthful enthusiasm," said Bush, guest speaker of U.Va.'s Youth Leadership Initiative Symposium Series, founded two years ago by the Center for Governmental Studies at the University.

The program was started "to do something about the decline in political activism," said Larry J. Sabato, center director and professor of government and foreign affairs. It now reaches many of Virginia's school-age children through student debates, a web site and mock elections -- including the nation's largest Internet election in history, held Oct. 27.

Bush, accompanied on stage by Sabato and Virginia's first lady Roxanne Gilmore, spoke only briefly of her son George W. Bush's campaign for the presidency during her talk.