By Delia Rune,

Liberal Arts and Science Academy

Catherine Masey has done Youth and Government (YAG) for the last three years. She
used to mock trial but, this year, she has transitioned to judging in order to balance her role at
YAG with her role as a delegation president. Masey wants to be a lawyer, so being in the
judicial branch was a no-brainer for her. “I chose to be a judge because it was something still in the judicial branch but with less commitment than mock trial,” Masey said. “I knew I wasn’t going to be able to give my all to a
team this year while also being co-president of a delegation and balancing college applications.”

Masey explained that judging has presented unique challenges, but that being a co-president is even more difficult. Organizing and managing a team of students has proven to be a complicated task that requires strong leadership skills. “The biggest challenge of judging is just dealing with people who are completely wrong but think they are completely right,” Masey said. “But being the co-president of a delegation is really a whole lot of work. It’s honestly challenging just to try to get people to check the Remind, check their emails, and text me back.”

Still, despite the challenges, Masey loves her role as co-president. According to Masey,
her co-president Will Bolduc has helped a lot, and even veteran YAG attendees can help to manage the team and explain what is going on to newer YAG students. “I really really love being co-resident of my delegation,” Masey said. “And Will is such a great co-president, he’s wonderful.”

Masey is glad she chose to do YAG and says that she will continue to encourage
younger students to join the organization. Masey loves YAG because of the friends she has met
through the club, as well as the real-world skills she has developed. “I think that it’s important for students to do YAG because it is important to be an informed citizen – and YAG definitely fosters that,” Masey said. “All the different branches of Youth and Government teach kids about how the real world works and give them skills they can use as adults.”