A high-ranking guest helped wrap up South Seattle Community College‘s Civics Week today, a week focused on both student-government elections and participation in the larger political/civic scene. U.S. Senator Patty Murray came to the West Seattle campus this morning – her second appearance there in 7 months (here’s our report from last October) – for a rally about the fight in D.C. over raising interest on student loans. In our 14-minute video of today’s speeches, you hear from SSCC president Gary Oertli, former SSCC president and current system chancellor Jill Wakefield, United Student Association president Dante Obcena, USA VP & legislative liaison Tysen Hillquist, before a few minutes by the senator:

Sen. Murray has long been active on veterans’ issues as well, as college president Oertli noted in his introduction. After the speech, Sen. Murray talked with local activist and U.S. Army veteran Dorsol Plants:

As you heard the senator say if you viewed the video, the bill to keep student-loan rates from rising sharply is currently tied up in a Republicans vs. Democrats fight, with the former trying to keep it from coming up for a vote.