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Teegan Wright, a fifth grader from La Pine, joins the Oregon Kid Governor’s Cabinet to promote inclusive sports programs that help kids overcome trauma and thrive in school.
Teegan Wright, a fifth grader at Rosland Elementary School in La Pine, was sworn in as a cabinet member alongside the 2025 Oregon Kid Governor last week.
“My name is Teegan,” Wright said during a speech at the State Capitol on Thursday. “Thank you for this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to be here at the Capitol building.”
Teegan is a star student and athlete and made his platform about using team sports to help kids have more success.
“We’ve seen a lot of kids in our classroom who are traumatized and who blow up and go all emotional. And once they get into team sports, like a sports event happens, then they really calm down in the classroom,” Teegan said.
Teegan gave his speech about sports programming that focuses specifically on trauma-related youth involved in all-inclusive teams and games.
“They need structured sports programs and they need to feel the support of their coaches so they feel like they might do school violence later on in life if they don’t have any connections with the kids at school. But if they have connections, they won’t want to hurt these kids because they’re their friends and they don’t want to hurt their friends,” Teegan said.
Teegan’s father and teacher, Ron Wright, says this wasn’t just a learning opportunity for Teegan. Seeing a student from their school inspired his classmates.
“It was really fun for them to see one of their own up there on such a platform and it drew their attention towards state government and politics,” said Ron Wright. “We really had some discussions in the classroom that we might not otherwise have had, had he not been in this program.”
The work is not over for Teegan. He is now heading to local park and recreation districts to share and spread his ideas and agenda for sports inclusivity.
Teegan says he wants to be a professional athlete when he grows up but can see himself in a government role or as an engineer.
One fifth-grader was selected as the 2025 Oregon Kid Governor. Six students were selected for the Kid Governor’s Cabinet.
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