By: Emelie Coday
This year at the 70th Youth and Government state conference, there were four candidates running for Attorney General. The candidates are Katelin Schellhorn “Shelly”, Jean-Marie Kmetz, Asha Christian, and Jillian Bynum.
Katelin Schellhorn was the first to speak. She hopes to guarantee better preparation before trials and she promised to normalize scores. She promised to revise information to decrease confusion among judicial delegates, and non-judicial alike. She also said she would try to convince the leaders to give the delegates long-sleeved shirts next year.
After Schellhorn, Jean-Marie Kmetz took the podium. Kmetz described her experience in the Youth and Government program as a witness one year, and attorney for the last two years. Like Schellhorn, Kmetz said that she would attempt to simplify matters for delegates. She wants to push for originality, specifically criticizing the constant use of Brookbend, Texas. Finally she sang out that she was bringing jury back.
Asha Christianson was up next. She spoke boldly, encouraging the delegates to remember that they are the future.
“Youth and Government is not a program, but a legacy,” Christianson said.
Christianson wants to eliminate last minute changes that confuse judicial teams, and start using more technology instead of filing through too many papers.
Jillian Bynum was the final candidate, and she honed in on how difficult it was to be able to practice with her team. She said that schedules “always conflict,” and that it was “too hard to set up time with other judicial delegates.”
Bynum wanted to change this conflict, and to make an easier way to also connect with other Youth and Government programs outside of the individual’s own school.
Brooks Mitchell, a delegate from Lake Country, said he would vote for Schellhorn, “because of her plan to normalize scores.”
Another delegate, Camden Hoylu, said that he would vote for Kmetz, “simply because she’s been an attorney for two years and she’s pushing for originality.”