On Wednesday, April 26, students from a wide variety of majors and backgrounds headed to the Pennsylvania Capitol for the annual Owls on the Hill Day.

Owls on the Hill is an annual tradition in which Temple students travel to Harrisburg and advocate for the Commonwealth's continued funding of the university, a proposed $169.4 million this year.

Temple Ambler was well represented among the students by junior Psychology major Josh Palackal and Landscape Architecture sophomore Owen Lambert.

"Programs like Owls on the Hill provide students with an amazing experience that allows them to step outside of their comfort zone while doing good work for the University and the tens of thousands of students enrolled here. This program helps bring about tangible, material change to the lives of Temple students, which is why it is so important to participate in them," said Palackal, who will be Ambler Student Life Board president during the 2023-2024 school year. "I am very politically active, so I was not going to pass up the opportunity to meet legislators! Having face-to-face conversations with legislators or staffers is much more impactful than emails or phone calls — the added element of being in-person with them makes the conversations much more personal and, I think, more powerful."

Lambert said he decided to take part in Owls on the Hill "to get a taste for how state government runs and talk to senators and representatives about their support for Temple University."

"My participation entailed going to different senators' offices and talking to their staff about the benefit Temple students receive due to the discount in tuition supported by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania," he said. "It's important for students to partake in Owls on the Hill because they're able to have direct contact and influence on important government members that enact real change."

According to Palackal, as soon as the Temple students reached the Capitol, they immediately got to work.

"As part of my involvement, I spoke with various political staffers representing different legislators. We were also given handouts that had some statistics as well as a map of Pennsylvania that showed how many Temple students came to Temple from each PA county," he said. "The other participants and I took multiple group photos on the State Senate and House Chambers with Representative (Christine) Tartaglione and House Speaker (Joanna) McClinton respectively. We were also given an official Senate 'warm welcome,' where we stood up in the Senate chambers and were applauded by the legislators."

Several Representatives, Palackal said, also met with students during lunch, including Reps. Donna Bullock, Chair of the Pennsylvania Legislative Black Caucus, and Joe Hogan, a current Temple Law student.

By meeting legislators in person, "they can put a face and a personality behind your cause," said Lambert.

"I believe legislators gain a better understanding of Temple University and its students and how important it is to continue their support," he said.

Palackal said he was grateful that a "conscious effort was taken to include Temple Ambler students in Owls on the Hill." 

"I wanted to use this as an opportunity to advocate for Ambler Campus students and the Temple student body as a whole. Ultimately, the point of Owls on the Hill is to make the school more affordable and therefore more equitable, and I was happy to be part of this effort to uplift the voices of all our students," he said. "I hope that legislators and their staffers acknowledge the lives they would enrich by supporting Temple's state funding — that doesn't just include the students who go here. So many of our students, who often come here because of the lower tuition, stay in the Greater Philadelphia area and work and/or start their own businesses, stimulating our economy — resourcing our school will lead to direct benefits to Philadelphia and its surrounding areas, not just Temple."