Charles Henderson High School has been selected as one of nine schools in Alabama to hear Governor Bob Riley’s State of the State address on Monday.

Approximately 70 seniors have been selected to hear the speech via the CHHS “Alabama Connecting Classrooms, Educators, and Students Statewide” lab.

The ACCESS lab is a state initiative to provide more opportunities to students with interactive video technology.

Linda Felton-Smith, Troy City Schools Superintendents, says that the ACCESS lab has been up and running for two years.

“A grant was written for the high school to receive the access lab,” said Felton-Smith. “We received a request for proposals and the grant was written. The ACCESS lab is state-funded.”

Felton-Smith was pleased with CHHS’s selection to be one of the schools to get to hear the Governor’s speech.

“We are very pleased with the selection. We think this is a wonderful opportunity for some of the Seniors to hear the Governor,” Felton-Smith said “This is a great learning opportunity and we are very honored.”

David Helms, principal of Charles Henderson High School, is proud that his school will be one of nine schools listening to the Governor’s speech live.

“We are very proud of the ACCESS program and we promote it every chance we get. Our kids are excited about hearing the Governor’s speech,” said Helms.

“We get to hear the speech before the rest of the public does, that is a pretty big honor.”

The Seniors at CHHS were allowed to come up with a question that they will be able to personally ask the governor over the live connection.

“I can’t say exactly what the question will be, but the beauty of this is that the kids came up with the question,” said Helms.

“The questions we came up with range from proration to unemployment rates, and various other topics that it might surprise people that kids were interested in. The Seniors chose one question out of six to ask Governor Riley.”

Senior Amelia Berry will be asking the question through a live feed which will enable Governor Riley to see her and her to see him.

“Amelia volunteered to ask the question and we are very proud that she is going to represent our school,” said Helms.

“She was very instrumental in developing the question that we are going to ask the Governor. Not many kids get to interact with the Governor. When Charles Henderson High School speaks, the Governor’s eyes will be on us.”

CHHS Senior Brian Smith is hoping that the Governor’s State of the Union Address will answer some questions that he has about the current economic situation.

“I would like to hear Governor Riley address the issue of the recession. I want to know if he has any plans to help us get back on our feet,” said Smith.

“I’m excited to be able to listen to him speak.”

The students have been learning about politics and the election process in their government class.

“The students have read some good literature that the government sent out when we were first briefed on the State of the Union Address. This has been a good learning experience for the kids,” Helms said.