By Celeste Tijerina, Fox Tech High School

The 2022 YMCA Youth and Government District Conference officially commenced on Saturday, November 5, bringing together students from schools in San Antonio, Austin, and Corpus Christi to Akins High School in South Austin.

The Youth and Government program was formed in 1946 to educate and empower young adults as they move into a world of democracy. Youth and Government, or YAG for short, offers students the opportunity to understand and partake in a democracy and the U.S. legal system. Of the several programs offered through YAG, one includes the media section, in which students can gain knowledge in journalism through immersive, hands-on activities.

From the Akins High School senior class, Alize Martinez chose to participate in YAG’s media section under the photojournalism subsection. In this subsection, students must create a collection of photos with a caption attached that tells a story. With the encouragement of her teacher, she joined the media program with the hope and goal of overcoming her fear of public speaking. The concept of photography is not a foreign one to Martinez, who had previously taken photography classes. “I do like the section on photojournalism,” she said. “I took photography classes in middle school, so it’s actually pretty fun.” Martinez believes that YAG offers students the ability to apply the real-world skills they learn in the program to their daily lives. She says, “If we want to use [what we learn] in our career paths later on, it’ll be easier and not so confusing.” This is Martinez’s first and only year participating in YAG, but she says that had she known about the opportunities the program offered, she would have joined sooner.

“I only get to experience it for a short time. If I had started earlier, I could’ve overcome my speaking problem earlier.”

Just as Martinez had felt about the district conference, she noticed other students in the trial court cases she observed seemed to be just as nervous. The students were tripping over their words, but ultimately, Martinez knew they were fully capable individuals. She offered words of encouragement to any students who need to hear them: “Don’t be nervous, and good luck!”

Akins High School student Alize Martinez works on her Photojournalism assignment.

How Texas Youth and Government has changed the lives of those who attend

By Holland Beard, Austin High School

YMCA Youth and Government provides an environment for students to become more aware of issues surrounding them and gives them a chance to expand on their existing skills with an exclusive experience. The club has been active since 1946 and has strived to educate its members that “Democracy must be learned by each generation.” The program has affected many members, with some coming out of it with improved skills, new friendships, and a greater view of issues surrounding Texas.

“My favorite part of the club is by far the people,” says Annika Singh, a sophomore and long-time attendee of Youth and Government. Singh reminisces about her past experiences with the organization. “The club has changed my life; it has opened up so many new experiences for me and has caused me to meet people I’ll never forget.” As she walks down the halls of Akins High School, she begins again, “I just have never experienced something that has connected me with so many people and allowed me to really shine.”

Youth and Government has over 25,000 involved students across the state, their backgrounds varying all over Texas. The program has forged one of her longest-lasting friendships. “I’ve met so many friends who I never would’ve met,” she says. Youth and Government currently hosts 40 state programs, ranging all over Texas. According to the program’s website, www.ymcatexasyg.org, there are also 3,300 volunteers and advisors.

Youth and Government has helped in ways other than connecting like-minded students. It has had a massive impact on important lifelong skills such as public speaking. Sophomore Zoe Moreno says how much she has changed throughout her years at Youth and Government. “My public speaking has improved so much.” Public speaking is an essential part of all sections at Youth and Government. Those who took part came out of it with more experience in the art of public speaking, even those who were embarrassed or scared to speak.

“The purpose of Youth and Government is to educate its members on the political issues surrounding Texas,” says senior Lola Shmeis. Shmeis is the club leader at Austin High School and an advanced member of Youth and Government. Youth and Government’s purpose is to educate students on the importance of political understanding and to give them hands-on experience in that. The experience provides all attendees with new information learned both through conferences and research. The students hear about political issues that impact them, and how they can fix them. “I love bragging about how the red-on-right rule was made by Youth and Government,” says Shmeis, recounting how the law allowing for a legal right turn at a red light started as a Youth and Government proposal. The real-life impacts of the club are not lost on her, and she expresses pride in the program. “The impact of Youth and Government is important statewide. What we’re doing is making a difference,” Shmeis says.

By Eleanor Thompson, Austin High School

Every year Akins High School welcomes old and new faces to the YMCA Texas Youth and Government (YAG) District Conference. Some come from a background of debate rooms, Model UN conferences, and years of practice participating in YAG. Others have zero experience in anything related to the club. Zoe Moreno and Holland Beard sit on opposite sides of this spectrum. Moreno on the experienced end, and Beard on the novice side. Does their experience in the club dictate how well they perform in their own respective sections? Here’s their opinion on it:

Zoe Moreno is a sophomore at Austin High School and has been in YAG since 6th grade. “The skills I’ve learned transfer into all of the academic involvements such as Model UN and Debate,” she says. “It helped my public speaking skills grow and aided my advancement in YAG.” She feels that her background gives her an advantage. “Practice makes perfect, and I have more knowledge in the field. If the person has years of debate or MUN under their belt, sure I’ll give them that,” she says, “but I still have more experience in YAG.They have skills in places that might boost them, but they still don’t have the understanding of YAG.”

Holland Beard is participating in her first year at the Media Department. Furthermore, she was in the Yearbook and Journalism Club throughout middle school and continues to write in her free time. “I understand this is my first year. However, I still think I can excel,” she says. “If I’m at a debate tournament and it’s my first time participating, and say I have five pre-existing years of debate, in my opinion, I’ll be better than the kid who participated for three years.” She shakes her head as if she said something wrong, “To be fair, it’s your perspective. I don’t think experience determines someone’s quality of work.”

Skill grows based on one’s own experience whether it is in YAG, Debate, Journalism Club, or MUN. As Beard says, it’s based on your perspective. Experience in YAG does not always determine how you perform. Background in other forms is the same. Experience, no matter whether it’s in Youth and Government, helps contribute to one’s success.

By Frida Hernandez-Aguila, Veterans Memorial High School

During Hispanic Heritage Month many are reminded of the culture of their homes, the homes that many immigrants had to leave. Leaving home and making many sacrifices for a better life, to be able to reach for the “American dream.”

“About 12 years ago, my family made the tough decision to leave our only home that we knew, which had our family, language, and culture. This decision was made on the pure thought of having a better future,” said Miranda Revilla from Veterans Memorial High School in San Antonio. This is a story about the immigrants that come undocumented and the ones that do come here legally but don’t make it because they were blinded by the idea of the American dream. “As stated by my mother, the American dream is ’overrated,’. It does not mean that a person can’t achieve it. But means that it is too sugarcoated for the immigrants that hear it,” explains Revilla.

Not just because a person crossed that line at the border that divides the troubles of their country and the future does it mean that they have accomplished it. This is not the finish line for many immigrants. Many of these people leave their countries because of poverty or violence from the government or gangs, just to have to get two or even three jobs to be able to survive.

The money they earn is not kept but sent to their families back home. At this point, they only know how to survive, and their chances of living the life they dreamed about are limited.

Even the ones that come here with all the right documents still have to fight for many years against the culture shock and the new way of life. “When first arriving in America, the first house that we had was too big, our skin color was not the same shade as the rest, our language was exotic to them, and our food had a strange smell,” Revilla says. “We used to see ourselves as less than the Americans, and we had the idea that they saw themselves as more. Though it is the years that have taught us that we are not less or more but just people trying to live.”

The entertainment industry in recent years has worked to show the troubles that immigrants and people in Latin America go through. The 2014 movie, Llevate a Mis Amores, directed by Arturo Gonzalez, shows the journey of hundreds of immigrants from across Latin America that take the train known as, “La Bestia”, because it causes many deaths. The 2019 movie, Ya no Estoy Aquí, directed by Fernando Frias, shows how even after coming to the U.S., a young man running away from the cartel couldn’t make it. The 2021 movie, Noche de Fuego, directed by Tatiana Huezo, shows the violence experienced by many Mexicans on a daily basis from cartels. The song by Natalia Lafourcade, “Hasta La Raiz,” talks about how even living in America she will never forget her roots in Mexico. The song by Calle 13, “Latinoamerica”, sends a message about the injustice experienced in Latin countries. We show our culture and troubles through works of art to be able to get the message through to those that need to hear it, and we hope for them to see it.

Miranda Revilla, a first-generation U.S. citizen from Veterans Memorial High School, reflects on her family’s experience as immigrants.