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Texas Youth and Government

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So far Texas Youth and Government Youth and Government has created 177 blog entries.

Bill Passed to Make Election Day a Holiday 

By: Arav Sachan, Dripping Springs High School

A proposal to make each federal election day a state holiday passed Saturday at the 2024 YMCA Youth & Government District Conference at Akins High School.  Bills are the foundation upon which laws are built. They are formal motions toward enacting new laws or changing existing statutes. The purpose of a bill is to solve specific societal problems in such a manner that it provides an appropriate vehicle through which lawmakers may discuss and improve, and finally enact, changes in the law that reflect community needs and values. Filing a bill exposes issues of paramount importance to the legislature related to public health, education, economic development, or issues on social justice, which would consequently raise necessary debates amongst lawmakers, various other stakeholders, and the general public. 

Bills ensure good governance by way of transparency and accountability. They create ways in which ordinary citizens may have engagements in legislative processes and avenues through which public input and arguments are ensured. It is in this engagement that diverse consideration of proposed laws for their impacts on various segments of society is ensured. After approval by the legislature, the bill now becomes law with the right of the government to roll out new regulations, disburse appropriate resources, and apply enforcement. In all, bills remain one of the most critical tools in the design of the rule of law in society, democratic participation, and response to emerging challenges for adapting laws so that they are relevant and effective in the service of the common good.

2024-11-16T15:25:36-06:00November 16th, 2024|Uncategorized|0 Comments
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Nutty Negligence Causes Nutterson Death

Local high school girl, Hazel Nutterson, dies after eating from Herb’s Haven.

By: Edy Wang, LASA High

One peaceful evening, Wanda Waffle and her daughter, Hazel Nutterson, decided to order in from the local restaurant Herb’s Haven for dinner. That twelfth of July, 2024, high school student Hazel Nutterson dies from anaphylactic shock after taking a bite of vegetable curry, leaving her family, friends, and community devastated. Now in an attempt to bring justice for her daughter, Waffle has now filed a lawsuit against Herb Salt, owner of Herb’s Haven, accusing them of negligence.
Herb’s Haven has been widely praised for their impeccable vigilance regarding the dietary restrictions of their customers, making Hazel’s untimely death a shock to their entire community. City Restaurant Inspector Salmonella was called to the stand to confirm the high quality care that the employees of Herb’s Haven take for allergen safety.

“Herb’s Haven is known by the city health inspectors for always getting an A++ rating during inspections.” — Sam Salmonella

Wanda’s BiteBuddy order had no allergens listed as Wanda had not checked the allergy checkbox on the BiteBuddy app. Wanda was not aware that BiteBuddy has a special box that must be checked to flag allergies on an order and had instead written in the special instructions area “Severe peanut allergy – absolutely no peanuts or peanut products”. In the first place, even without special instructions, Hazel’s vegetable curry was not supposed to contain peanuts but the supplier of the curry powder used changed their ingredients, an act that was not disclosed to Herb.
After considering the arguments presented by the defense and plaintiff, Judge Barnett concluded that Herb Salt is innocent. Ever since the tragedy of Hazel Nutterson’s death, Herb’s Haven has put in place much stricter protocols concerning their customers dietary restrictions, demanded that their supplier clearly discloses all possible allergens and implemented a double checking system for all meals flagged with dietary restrictions.
2024-11-16T15:14:03-06:00November 16th, 2024|District Conference|0 Comments
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Our Future Advocates

By Chloe Narvaez, John Marshall High School

As we know, the class of 2025 will be graduating in just a few months. They are obviously important roles for our upcoming future but what about the students who will be following them? It’s also important to hear their stories, lessons learned, and experiences in Mock Trial.

This student Angela Yepes is a Junior at Marshall and recently played the role of a judge in District competition ‘24. This has affected Angela in many ways, one being who she has surrounded herself with school wise. She says that her friend group comes from Mock Trial, she says they are close because of Mock Trial and it is something that helps them grow and learn together as close friends.

“I just feel like I’m more like, I’m more prepared for professional situations, so for my future, whenever I get a job etc.”

Angela says that Mock Trial has taught her to speak more professionally, become more comfortable in professional/serious settings, and just how to be more proper in general. She also says that Mock Trial has helped her feel more connected with other people in her classes, especially in the teamwork and collaboration part of it.

“Because when you’re an attorney for the past two years, you’re depending on other people to do their work, and they are depending on you, in turn, to do your own work. So it really taught me that I have to be responsible with my time, not only just for myself, but for others.”-Angela Yepes

While law is not a main focus in her future, Mock Trial has been something she says she feels interested to go into in the future, whether her senior year or in college.

“It definitely taught me that law might be something I’m interested in. It showed me that although I do feel a lot of pressure in that area, it is exciting to be in the courtroom, and I would actually really like to be in the courtroom in the future.”- Anegla Yepes

In conclusion, being in Mock Trial can help students by tapping into their skills, building confidence, and fostering a more complex understanding of the legal process. It also equips them with valuable life lessons and skills that they may even use in the courtroom 25 years from now. To end off the essay let me include the impactful words of advice from Anegla Yepes.

“Even though we’re all striving to get better scores than each other, we all have to remember to respect each other, and that in the end, we’re probably going to be working with each other so we should learn right now. We should learn and grow together, and should just focus on having fun too.”- Angela Yepes

2024-11-16T14:58:04-06:00November 16th, 2024|Uncategorized|0 Comments
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Contrasting Experiences: Senior vs. Freshman viewpoints in Mock Trial

Contrasting Experiences: Senior vs. Freshman viewpoints in MockTrial

By Chloe Narvaez, John Marshall High School

It’s obvious that some experiences and journeys for Mock Trial can be different for everyone, especially between freshmen, and seniors/vets. It’s easy to think that one person’s opinions about Mock Trial can dictate the whole team’s view, but that’s not exactly true. For example let’s hear about Seniors Noah Willet, and Shane-David Burkeys opinions about District ‘24.

Seniors Noah and Shane-David come from Regents School of Austin, and their case was a case of negligence to a diners peanut allergy in a restaurant. While Noah was a defense attorney in this role he concluded the restaurant not guilty, and Shane-David who was defense and plaintiff in his role believes that the restaurant is liable. Comparing this to our freshman Daynira Esquivel who comes from John Marshall high school, she plays the role of a delivery driver for said restaurant and she pleads not guilty due to the fact that she was not the one responsible for the restaurant’s negligence.

“Well I’m the defense attorney, and I think that the restaurant isn’t guilty.”-Noah Willet

“…My role in this case was peppermint, which is the delivery driver for Herbs

Haven…My side of the debate would be not guilty, because the restaurant Herbs Haven failed to give the proper protocols and procedures for the negligence of the peanuts and that was out of my control.”-Dayanira Esquivel

Now while the three students all have different roles as far as the case goes, they both seem to have the same opinions on other things such as presentability. Both sides believe that proper and professional attire, strong speech, body language and behavior are very important factors to your image and how you present yourself to others around you. Both sides agreed that fashion and body language is an especially important factor.

“…You want to look formal  for this case, you have to treat districts as if it was the actual court case, like in real life, as if youre watching one of those documentaries where they are in the courtroom, giving an actual case, you have to take it seriously and professionally.”-Dayanira Esquivel

“If you’re wearing inappropriate clothing and you’re not being kind, then you’re going to get worse scores and you’re going to be less thought of so.”- Noah Willet

“How you present yourself, it says more about you than the case.”- Shane-David Burkey

While that is something the two sides agree on, the one thing they seem to see differently is the efficiency and system of running the comp. I myself don’t have much to say about the system but while our freshman Daynira has a good time, our seniors Noah and Shane-David have a different view.

“No, no…there should be no delay in who’s in what room and on what side. You shouldn’t be getting that information the morning of that information can be made available days before.”-Noah Willet

“At state you have second day ranked matchmaking, but here it’s all random, so there should be no delay.”- Shane-David Burkey

“The system would make me want to return because I realized that doing district was very very fun, and a great way to meet new people.”-Dayanira Esquivel

And while I only talked to these lovely folks for about 5 minutes each, it made me realize that the district competition is all about being grateful for experience and lessons, either for the first time or the fourth. In conclusion the senior and freshman experiences can illustrate the growth and development of the two classes. Seniors often lead with their own refined skills while freshmen bring in new viewpoints and enthusiasm. This simple dynamic can highlight the importance of mentorship and continuous improvement in Mock Trial and Texas Youth and Government as a whole.

2024-11-16T14:38:15-06:00November 16th, 2024|Uncategorized|0 Comments
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What is the Yapp? Why is it Important?

The Yapp app is used for many occasions and events to prevent getting lost and reduce confusion between individuals. The YMCA Youth and Government program uses the Yapp to indicate the times, dates, and locations of certain conferences and meeting areas to stay connected with all members. There are unlimited features to the Yapp which make it the go to navigation application. Providing maps, schedules and documents to find specific resources helps improve students, teachers, advisors, and parents from drifting to confusion and creates a clear understanding of what is happening within the group. To cure the uncertainty that might be caused when traveling or even getting a hold of staff, the Yapp helps Youth and Government programs run smoothly and efficiently. Ever forgot where you were going during conference? Got lost on the way? Forgot which room you had to go to? The Yapp has all the rooms and times to be there, so you don’t miss an important meeting. The many resources included within the different sections of the app contains legislative bills, candidates, speakers, resources for
every branch along with award photos. Several courts and other schedules are incorporated inside the “conference schedule” icon. An interview from a fellow delegate stated that the Yapp app helped them in various ways to better understand the new environment they were getting into. A few words from our delegate, “I appreciate that the YMCA program is involved with Yapp because it is such a life saver.“ Nevertheless, Youth and Government is proud to have the Yapp app to manage their many activities included.


Written by Isabella Martinez

2024-07-22T12:59:17-05:00February 3rd, 2024|2024, YG State Conference|0 Comments
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The Addison Hobbs Interview

Today, on February 3 2024, there was an amazing county trial. The defense team from First Baptist Christian Academy were defending Alex Greene, a police officer for the city of Mustang. The case is about a police officer who shot a woman in her home because he thought she was a burglar. Xavier Sazarez and Grace Hargraves are the defense attorney’s for Alex Greene. They are defending Greene’s word of shooting the woman in self defense because the woman he shot had a gun and therefore they believe that Greene is not guilty. The witnesses for the defense are Alex Greene , played by Chloe Frazier, Bellany Frey, played by Haley Hillhouse,
and Ferrin Glass, played by Steven Richards. Alex Greene is related to this trial because he is the defendant obviously. Ferris Glass is a witness because she was the neighbor of Kamari (the lady that was shot) and is the one who made the police call because her house looked off. She said it was off because the front door was wide open and the lights were off. Bellany Frey is a witness because she is an expert in police use of force. She compared Alex’s actions to the studies done
observing the use of force. She decided that Alex is reasonable and acted correctly. The case went back and forth and many good points were made by both sides. The strongest point of the prosecution was that he did not follow police protocol and shot her even though he was not sure of who she was. The strongest point made by the defense was that from his perspective he just saw a gun pointed at him and was shooting at self defense. The sides for most of the trial were
neck and neck. But at the end of the day there was a lack of evidence on the defense side of the trial to prove that he was guilty. The main reason he was found guilty was because he did not follow the proper police protocol and shot her without knowing who she was.

2024-02-03T18:48:04-06:00February 3rd, 2024|2024, YG State Conference|0 Comments
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What is Mock Trial? An Overview of Trial Court

By: Benjamin Cisneros Veterans Memorial/Austin Delegation February 3rd, 2024 Austin, TX – The trial court section of the YMCA Youth and Government program can be considered a quite complex endeavor to most. However, the Youth and Government delegates who participate in the mock trial section make it seem as easy as can be. If we were to break it down we would first start with what everyone does. The attorneys are the most important people in the courtroom; they are the ones who interpret the case and turn it into their story, choosing to both defend and prosecute. Next up to bat would be the witnesses, the reason the witnesses are present in the courtroom is that they are here to prove the attorney’s case. They provide testimonies and at times even expert opinion. They help further push the attorneys’ case. Without the witnesses, attorneys would not have a case to present.Ashley Cordes, a witness for Veterans Memorial High School was asked what was the most important part of her role she stated that “Knowing which pieces of information are vital to the case”.

Now for the position who presides over the court, the judge. As the name implies they determine who has the better case at the end of the trial and determine if the defendant is guilty or not guilty. Last but not least we have the bailiff, they are the timekeeper and make sure that the trial goes according to schedule. Gael Maldonado, the bailiff for Veterans Memorial High School had this to say about his position. “I love being a bailiff because I get to observe the trial without getting caught in the line of fire, I enjoy being neutral and get to formulate my own opinion much like the judge.” Now that everyone has been introduced, the stage is set, the trial begins with the opening statements by the prosecution (the defense can defer their opening statements until after the state’s case). The judge will now swear in all witnesses requiring them to tell the truth and nothing but the truth. Once the witnesses are under oath the prosecution may now call their first witness to the stand for direct examination. The prosecution has eighteen minutes between all three of the witnesses, after the first witness has testified, opposing counsel may begin their cross-examination, which they have fifteen minutes to do so. The same process is repeated for all three of the witnesses. After the prosecution’s witnesses have testified, the defense may now call their witnesses to the stand and repeat the same process.

Immediately after the witnesses have been examined the state may now have three minutes for their closing statements, any extra time may be saved for rebuttal after the defense has given their closing arguments. Finally, once all matters have been taken care of the judge walks out of the courtroom to deliberate accounting for all factors and arguments presented by both counsels and their witnesses. After deliberation, the judge returns with the final verdict of guilty or not guilty. The Youth and Government program has some of the most promising future attorneys and judges. From what I’ve witnessed this weekend the fate of America’s legal system lies in good hands.

2024-02-03T18:36:55-06:00February 3rd, 2024|2024, YG State Conference|0 Comments
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The Synergy of Speech & Debate and Youth & Government

So . . . why do so many YG kids do debate?

Written by:  Medha Rapuri


On the seventh floor of the Kalahari resort, the Greenhill delegation’s girls inhabit a room where two are currently active in Speech & Debate, and the other three bring past experience to this extracurricular pursuit. On the sixth floor, the boys of the Greenhill delegation, with two actively participating in Speech & Debate and the remaining two having past experience, continue this trend. Nearly all members of this single delegation boast experience with these extracurriculars, a pattern consistently observed throughout all Youth and Government sections, particularly in Legislative and Judicial activities. Students have compelling reasons for participating in both extracurriculars. Sarah Koshy, a witness in her mock trial team and a Lincoln-Douglas style debater, attests to the transferability of debate skills to mock trial, including “argumentative innovation, quick thinking, crowd engagement, and ethos.” This highlights the symbiotic relationship between debate and mock trial, where skills acquired in one arena significantly benefit the other. Jonaki Bose, an expert-level witness in mock trial and World school styledebater, reinforces this reciprocity by stating that her “speaking style is strengthened by mock trial”, helping her reduce filler words, a valuable asset in debate competitions. The clear consensus is that students choose to engage in both Speech & Debate and Mock Trial for strategic, holistic skill development in public speaking. Although these extracurriculars are fleeting high school experiences, their impact extends beyond graduation. Ethan Chen, a youth governor candidate, credits his time in legislative for enhancing his “ability to speak effectively” and notes that “debate experience has sharpened his skills in effective communication”. These skills, cultivated during high school activities, are invaluable for future endeavors, exemplified by Ethan’s aspiration to pursue a career in law. In short, student’s participation in Speech & Debate or YG highlights a deliberate approach to honing well-rounded communication skills, fostering lasting benefits for their future pursuits and determination to make the world a better place.

Written by: Medha Rapuri
2024-02-03T18:37:07-06:00February 3rd, 2024|2024, YG State Conference|0 Comments
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Police Officer’s Tragic Mistake

In the world of good and evil where one second can mean life or death the line between maintain public safety and tragic mistakes can become apparent. Recently, an incident occurred when a police officer mistakenly shot a woman during a burglary. This event has been raising attention about challenges that officers have to face daily. During the night, law enforcement responded to a reported burglary in progress. When officers arrived at the scene, they met a woman who, was the victim being robbed. In the heat of the situation, a police officer name Alex Greene shot her because he thought she was a threat which resulted In her death. On top of that her nephew saw the entire incident unfold which raises the question of whether the incident was a tragic mistake or murder The woman who called the police and should have felt safe in her home is now dead by the people who are responsible for keeping the community safe. Also the nephew who was impacted psychologically due to witnessing this horrific event. Police officer who are put in there high-risk situations, requiring life or death situations that have permeant consequences. This is why it is crucial that all officers have extensive training. Incidents like these bring awareness to the difficulties faced by police officers and why they need to stay in training no matter how long they have served. People argue that with correct training, tactics to de-escalate, and
better communication future incidents like these can be prevented. Another thing is accountability that is required to rebuild a broken relationship between the community and law enforcement. This mistaken shooting during burglary reminds us of the difficult decisions officers make in and day out. As people seek the truth, there is a call for reform with police to reduce these risks. Protecting the public while making the best decisions is a challenge we face today, but with accountability, communication, and training we will fix this these problems. What the nephew saw adds a whole new case. Ultimately
what he wants is a safer world for us to live in.

1st source The Case of the Confused Cop – Eadn-Wc01-11426870.Nxedge.Io, eadn-wc01-

11426870.nxedge.io/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/23-24-TXYG-Trial-Court-Case-The-
Case-of-the-Confused-Cop.pdf. Accessed 3 Feb. 2024.
2nd Court Case in Judical
Written by Tyler Tran
2024-02-03T18:35:31-06:00February 3rd, 2024|2024, YG State Conference|0 Comments
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Information for YG Veterans: Life After YMCA

As the 2023-2024 Youth and Government State Conference comes to an end, for some of the delegates it will be their last time ever doing Youth and Government, in which they will become Alumni of this program. The YMCA has a mission “to help teenagers become responsible citizens and future leaders of our nation.”. The program has acquired all the participants to leave with a new set of skills and abilities. Speaking with alumni, Seleste Long, states “ Youth and Government have shaped me into who I am today. I was able to leave the program with a different set of social skills, after joining the media section. I was once not one who went out of my way to talk to people, but I do now! Actually, I currently attend UT Austin and I room with Ciara Brown, last year’s Lieutenant Governor. So not only did Youth and Government leave me with new friends that I still keep in contact with, but it helped me overcome some of that social anxiety I once possessed!” Seleste has also spoken about her brother, “Sharif Long who also attended UT Austin and was a delegate in Legalstive, now works as a Legislative Correspondent in the
U.S House of Representatives.”. For a bit of background information about Sharif’s journey, Advisor Steven Cain, gave the story. “Sharif didn’t first go to school for his career, he first went in as a different major, but he soon realized this wasn’t what he wanted. He went back and he made the change and now he is successful!” The Youth and Government program, helped one bright men find his passion and not only find it, but he succeeded in it. Now for the message to all the YG Veterans, let this program lead you. You’ve read about what it can do, whether that’s curing your social anxiety, creating new friends, or even
finding your passion after high school- you will receive what you put into this amazing program!

Written by Ajaila Joseph
2024-02-03T18:32:47-06:00February 3rd, 2024|2024, YG State Conference|0 Comments
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