This past weekend, Youth in Government (YIG) was busy debating, campaigning and electing. The 24 club members traveled to Jefferson City for the annual convention along with 500 other aspiring politicians. Here, the group acted as legislators or media reporters and carried out these roles they had prepared since August.
“The first day, we debated a few bills, then the second and third days, we spent all day debating,” junior Paige Hofmeister, a member of the legislative branch, said.
Hofmeister led the House as a committee chair, which meant she had to take her committee through the debate process on arrival day. She enjoys listening to bill debates, as she finds them interesting and eye-opening.
“It’s really awesome, because you get to see everyone’s point of view on different topics,” Hofmeister said. “There are things I’ve never thought about.”
Legislators have the opportunity to win awards at the convention as well as fight for their bill to be passed through both the House and Senate and be signed into YIG law. Senior Ben Morrison and juniors Lauren Nosal and Erin Rowland won the honor of Outstanding Statesman in the legislative branch; senior Devin Chen earned the title of Outstanding Bill.
“There are only 30 awards given out at the convention, and we won like a third of them,” YIG sponsor Mrs. Margo Hoffmann said. “How can anyone be unhappy with that?”
Hofmeister, as well as juniors Kara Hubecky and Rowland ran for positions in the campaigns and election done at the convention. While none won the positions, Mrs. Hoffmann didn’t let these losses overshadow the successes of the weekend, including two of the group’s bills being passed into law and the awards won by the media crews.
“You have to look at success and not at failure,” Mrs. Hoffmann said.
Since 1990, Mrs. Hoffman has been sponsoring YIG. This year, she is not sure if there will be a next year. She hopes to continue helping the program even though she plans to retire after this teaching year. If this plan doesn’t pan out, then she will take on a role on the state YIG committee.
“I love this program,” Mrs. Hoffmann said. “I would truly miss it.”
