txyg

By Caden Ziegler

The primary function of both the Lobbyists and the Governor’s  Cabinet is to push an agenda on the House or Senate. Both sections attempt to persuade Senators or people from the House to vote a certain way on certain bills.

As a Governor’s Cabinet member from Oklahoma, Grace Hunziker, says: “We are just working with the Governor to kind of oversee all of the bills… and just make sure we get the right bills on his desk for him to sign.” Unlike the Governor’s Cabinet, the Lobbyists do not push the Governor’s agenda. According to Samik Sha Deme, “

[they] kinda have [their] own agenda, and [they] form coalitions within the lobbyists so that [they] can work together.”

The two sections attempt to sway the vote on bills by “[talking] to delegates in the chambers and see what they are thinking about, and see what the general atmosphere is around [a] bill.” They Gov. Cab. or Lobbyist would then try to talk the Senator into voting the way they want.

Lobbyists can have a reciprocal relationship with Senators, Sha Deme says, “If a certain person wants you to vote for their bill, then you can work with them and try to get their bill passed if you want them to do something for you.” If a Senator doesn’t like a bill, then they will tell a lobbyist to make sure it doesn’t get passed, and in return, the Senator will vote a certain way for a bill of the lobbyists choice.

Another way that both sections can sway the vote on a bill is by taking Senators out to talk during  the voting process. This issue was addressed by the Speaker of the House at the Governor’s Breakfast yesterday morning, he said it was unfair and now forbidden.

A Governor’s Cabinet member said that they “have been super careful to not [pull people out during the voting process]”, and discussed “in the meetings that it’s not okay.” Another lobbyists stated something similar, saying that they are trying to take people out at more appropriate times, but there are times “where [lobbyists] pull [senators] out and they happen to be voting at that time.” However, the claim to “try and send [the Senators] back as fast as [they] can.”

Lobbyist advisor Curry spoke in a meeting with the entire group of lobbyists saying, “I know yesterday the Speaker of the House said don’t pull people out for the sake of them missing votes.” However, after addressing the issue, Curry states that “it’s [the Senator’s] decision to walk out, right? … So if [a lobbyist says] ‘hey you wanna come talk to me?’ that’s not pulling [the Senator] out so that they’ll miss a vote, that’s just [the lobbyists] pulling them out to talk to them. If they miss a vote, that’s on them.” After advising his lobbyists to disregard the Speaker of the Houses presented issue, he concludes the meeting with this: “If the Speaker of the House pushes back on that, you can push back, you can let us know.”

By: Grayson Porter

Being a part of Youth and Government, as a delegate and an officer, has provided me with some of the best times of my life. From learning how to hone my skills in journalism or learning how to socialize in professional settings, YG has taught me an array of skills I can use in my future.

My freshman year I joined Print Media to spend time with friends and to meet people outside of my school. I was intimidated by the idea of failure my first year, but regardless I was able to push past my fear and help contribute to my first “Golden Gavel” newspaper. I was so proud of my 150-word article on the bottom of the last page that I cut it out and hung it in my room. As my skills in writing grew, I slowly found myself working my way up the Print Media ladder – eventually earning the title of Print Editor.

Using the tools and skills I have learned through my administrators and peers, I have been pleased and honored to be the student leader in charge of Print Media. With the help of the great media staff and administrators, I am delighted with our output of articles this 2017 Texas YG conference. Even while the Print Media department has changed through the years, so has media itself and so have I. As this program has grown, I have grown right along side with it. I have seen myself develop my own writing style and a way for me to properly explain my views.

Youth and Government has impacted me, and the program has helped me find my love of journalism and of news. If I can leave the program with one thing, I would want to leave it with the knowledge that media is not disappearing. While journalism practices and the structure of Youth and Government media may change, the distribution of news is something that will never change.

I will forever be grateful for the connections I have made during my time at these conferences, and I will continue to uphold my Y-core values for the remainder of my life.

By: Chloe Opelt

The Youth and Government program available to all high school attendees, has seemed to have a long-lasting impact on the lives of the participants. From present day delegates to past Youth and Government members, all have had more than enough to say about the effect of the program on not only their personalities, but their futures as well.

Kennedy Montgomery, YMCA Youth and Government Governor of 2016, made a trip from Fort Worth(Timberview High School) to join the masses at the State Conference this year. Montgomery has participated in two state conferences, as well as legislative actions and the chief of staff for governor in his former Michigan delegation. learned the importance of leadership, unity, service, and just helping others, as well as the idea of democracy and love.” Montgomery strongly believes that the program that he has been a part of for four years has impacted his life positively. “It changed my life, I used to want to be a cardiothoracic surgeon, but now I definitely want to be a public servant.”  When asked about the personality changes in the recent past, Montgomery accredited them to the program itself, claiming that it has “enhanced the overall spirit” of his personality. Overall, the influence this single program has had on Montgomery and his future is astounding and inspiring.

“I learned the importance of leadership, unity, service, and just helping others, as well as the idea of democracy and love,” Montgomery said.  Montgomery strongly believes that the program that he has been a part of for four years has impacted his life positively. “It changed my life, I used to want to be a cardiothoracic surgeon, but now I definitely want to be a public servant.”  When asked about the personality changes in the recent past, Montgomery accredited them to the program itself, claiming that it has “enhanced the overall spirit” of his personality. Overall, the influence this single program has had on Montgomery and his future is astounding and inspiring.

Montgomery strongly believes that the program that he has been a part of for four years has impacted his life positively. “It changed my life, I used to want to be a cardiothoracic surgeon, but now I definitely want to be a public servant.”  When asked about the personality changes in the recent past, Montgomery accredited them to the program itself, claiming that it has “enhanced the overall spirit” of his personality. Overall, the influence this single program has had on Montgomery and his future is astounding and inspiring.

“It changed my life, I used to want to be a cardiothoracic surgeon, but now I definitely want to be a public servant,” Montgomery said.  When asked about the personality changes in the recent past, Montgomery accredited them to the program itself, claiming that it has “enhanced the overall spirit” of his personality. Overall, the influence this single program has had on Montgomery and his future is astounding and inspiring.

Montgomery accredited them to the program itself, claiming that it has “enhanced the overall spirit” of his personality. 

Gracie Porter, a fourth-year delegate, is Print Editor at the 70th annual State Youth and Government Conference. Better communication skills, multi-tasking skills, and refinement of writing style are all components of the new pallet Youth and Government has provided to Porter. Porter claims that this program has “helped

By: Willow Dalehite

On the first day of the 2017 Youth & Government State competition, State Affairs delegates convened at the Texas Capitol to outline their proposals and engage in discussion about various governmental reforms. Aly Cerda,16, Ash Pellette, 17 and Emily Gentry, 16 are delegates from the Ann Richards School who created a proposal to address sexual assault on college campuses. In the morning before the competition, the group practiced in the Senate Chamber, where their forum was held. After a long day the proposal was not passed, and this was decided based on the quality of the presentation and the bill itself. 

The proposal focused on providing better enforcement of Title IX, which serves to protect students in federally funded educational institutions from discrimination based on sex, according to the U.S. Department of Education. “Our proposal is based mostly around the implementation of Title IX and making sure that it stays as a big part of the community in college,” Gentry said. “Upon enrollment to a Texas university you would be sent out a survey asking if you would like to be a correspondent with the Texas Board of Education, and every six weeks (or sooner if it’s deemed necessary) you are able to report back to the Texas Board of Education and say, ‘My Title IX offices are upholding this’ or ‘I feel like there’s a really big problem with this’, and punishments will be given out, such as fines, for Title IX not working.”

This issue has gained attention as a result of recent sexual assault cases such as that of Brock Turner, the Stanford swimmer who received three months imprisonment for committing a felony sexual assault even though he faced a maximum sentence of 14 years in prison, according to the New York Times. “Knowing that Brock Turner only went to jail for, what, three months and got out in good behavior is kind of ridiculous to me,” Gentry said. “I want to change that for not even just this competition, but I would like to see these reforms actually happen.”

Cerda cited personal and common fear in the importance of the group’s proposal. “After senior year I will be going into college, and with a new president elect who has normalized sexual assault talk as ‘locker room talk’ and just hearing people in my everyday life normalizing sexual assault, it is my number one fear,” she said. 

The impact of the proposal aims to help destigmatize those who report sexual assault cases and increase communication between college students and Texas agencies that serve them, and does not claim to be able to eradicate sexual assault on college campuses. “I just want people to think about it more,” Cerda said. “We all know that it’s something that’s happening, and a lot of people definitely turn a cheek to it because it’s not something that we can fix in an instant and a lot of people think that things we can’t fix in an instant we might as well not talk about.”

“I want people to feel comfortable talking about

by Caden Ziegler

During the Governor & Lobbyist Breakfast, each of the governor candidates gave a speech presenting their platform to the small congregation of lobbyists, Governor’s cabinet members, and the current Governor himself. After their speeches, there was a short Q&A for each candidate, Governor Kennedy Montgomery took this opportunity to ask how these candidates would assume his position in office.

Montgomery states that he believes that one of the most necessary qualities of a Governor is to serve the public.

“I honestly believe it starts with opening your heart and opening your mind,” Montgomery said. “To figure out and find the needs and wants of every delegate, and how you can best encompass and serve everyone. You do a lot of talking, you do a lot of speaking, but I believe listening is a big part of servant leadership. Addressing the needs of every delegate is an integral part of being governor. If you can’t listen then you don’t know, and if you don’t know, you can’t help.”

 Every candidate at the breakfast was asked about unity among the districts and delegations.

Candidate Jordan Clemets attempts to unify Texas YG by implementing a free broadcast of the conferences using Facebook’s live stream feature. “

[Unity] is extremely important because our state is large and vast. Unity is a core principle of Texas. We are constitutionally allowed to split into five different states,

“[Unity] is extremely important because our state is large and vast,” Clements said. “Unity is a core principle of Texas. We are constitutionally allowed to split into five different states, however we don’t because we are united as one large, glorious state. I feel like unity is very important because it represents that as well, whether we are from Midland, Dallas, Ft.Worth, Houston, or Austin. We are all in this together and we are all Texans.”

Ossmar Cardiel, another candidate, also spoke a lot about unity in his speech. Montgomery asked Cardiel what plans he had to unify YG if he were to win.

“On my tri-fold I also have my Snapchat on there so people can reach me there, because a lot of our delegates…stay active on social media such as Snapchat, Twitter, and so on,” Cardiel said.

Communication is a large part of Cardiel’s platform, he states that  “one person can accomplish a lot of things, but… together, and with the whole idea of unity, we could actually accomplish a lot more if we all work as one.”

The third present candidate was Sharif Long. He plans to unify the districts by the second part of his platform; equality.

“Governor Montgomery has done a great job of implementing unity on his platform last year, and [he] really [wants to] build off of that with [his] platform. There is no doubt that everyone in the programs voice matters,” Long said.

Montgomery said “[he is] just interested to see how it all plays out,” since “they are all pretty good candidates” and “they all believe in the essence and power of unity.”

Due to a mix up regarding Christopher Sharon’s schedule, the fourth candidate was not present during the Governer’s Breakfast. For this reason, he was not mentioned in this article.

By: Emelie Coday

This year at the 70^th 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.”

Good Morning YG Students, Advisors and staff!

We hope you are excited to attend the 70th Texas Youth and Government High School State Conference. On the website we have posted the Full Conference Brochure on the home page. You will also find the Bill Book, SAF Book, and the Pre-conference Handbook on the Resource Portal. Take a peek before you arrive or you can wait to receive your material at conference check-in this Thursday…see you soon!

Good morning delegates,

The application for Governor’s Cabinet or the Lobbyist section closes December 9th, 2016. We want to encourage all Legislative delegates interested in participating in these sections to apply. If you are unsure if you are interested, please read over the section descriptions found in the Resource Portal for more information.

This is also a reminder to all student candidates who won their desired offices at District: You must fill out this application to be eligible to run for your office at State. The application closes December 9th.

Finally, the application to be a District Judge also closes December 9th. If you were a top judge at your District Conference and would like to be a judge at State, please fill it out.

Gov Cab, Lobbyist, Judge app: https://www.tfaforms.com/451064
Candidate application: https://www.tfaforms.com/447556

Thanks and Happy Holidays from all of us here at YMCA Texas Youth and Government!

Hello YG Participants!

Congratulations on all your successful District Conferences! All were a wonderful start to the official 2016-2017 program season across the state. We hope that all participants and volunteers enjoyed learning and engaging with other YG participants from their area.

We are now gearing up for the High School and Middle School State Conferences! To help you prepare, we have a few announcements regarding upcoming events and deadlines for state:

• If you are in Legislative or State Affairs and would like to submit a REVISED copy of your bill or proposal, you may do so here until December 9th, 2016 for High School or January 9th, 2017 for Middle School. Please only submit a new copy if you have made changes to your bill or proposal since your District Conference. 
• Appellate Students: The form to submit your Appellate Briefs is now open. It closes on December 9th, 2016.
  • Austin District Appellate Students: Please only submit a new copy of your briefs if you have made changes to them since your District Conference.
• The application to be in the Governor’s Cabinet or Lobbyist Section (High School only) is now open.
  It closes on December 9th, 2016.
• The application for District Judges (Trial Court – High School only) is now open.
  It closes on December 9th, 2016.
• If you are a student who won the office you ran for at your District Conference, and you are now the official candidate from your District for that office, the Application for Candidates for State Office is now open.
  It closes on December 9th, 2016.

As always, please reach out to your club advisor, District Director or State Office if you have any administrative questions about the program. Additionally, be on the look out for the 2017 Preconference Brochure coming soon!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Hello YG Participants! The time for District Conferences has almost arrived.

Judicial participants: After reviewing your questions about this program year’s trial case, a revised case has been published along with a memo responding to various concerns. Please be sure to look these over prior to your District Conference and incorporate any new information into your practices.

Additionally, District Registration is now open for ALL YG participants. You or your club advisor should be registering you for your District Conference, including selecting your appropriate Legislative program section (if applicable). If there are issues with registration, please contact your District Director.

We are excited to see all of your preparation and skills on display at the District Conferences. Keep up the great work and enjoy your conference!