By Briana Taylor
The 70th annual Texas Youth and Government State Conference commenced this evening at the opening session in the Renaissance Hotel in Austin, Tx. Hundreds of student delegates from across the state of Texas occupied the Grand Ballroom of the hotel. In addition, the gathering included Youth and Government alumni, advisors, and even a judge from the state of Texas, all in attendance to kick off the conference which begins on January 26th and extends into the evening of Saturday, January 28th.
The State of Texas Youth and Government Program is divided into several sections – Legislative, State Affairs, Judicial, and Media. The media team in particular is in charge of coverage of the activities in the entire conference, beginning at the opening session and ending at the closing ceremony. This year is one of immense importance to the group, as this is one of the largest media teams the Texas Youth and Government Association has seen in its extensive history.
At the head of this group of individuals are three dedicated student editors and several section leaders, all of whom have made it their priority to assist in making this 2017 conference one for the record books.It is the job of student editors and section leaders to make sure that the delegates in the Media section are performing their duties, and to revise and edit articles crafted by the delegates of the media team.
One student editor, Gracie Porter of District 4, is currently participating in her fourth year of Youth and Government and is greatly invested in Print Media.
Porter became a student editor because she “wanted to move the program in a positive direction,” she said.
Gracie also enjoys the editing aspect of media. One of her goals for her section this year is to, “further the growth of print media,” seeing as though the section has been very small in recent years.
Delegates from the print media team were more than willing to share their thoughts on this year’s Youth and Government conference.
Kathryn Horton (District 2) says that one of her favorite parts of the Youth and Government program is, “ the people and the positive spreading of inspiration and ideas.”
Others shared their fears for the proceedings of this year’s conference.
As Print Media delegate Caden Ziegler (District 2) was worried about the learning curve for the Youth and Government processes and sticking to deadlines.
“ I am very afraid of not meeting the deadlines for the assignments I have to complete,” he said. “In District, we could write about whatever we wanted to, but now I have to write about things that I know nothing about.”
This Texas Youth and Government State conference is one that has already proven to be great in number. Delegates from all over the state of Texas are gearing up to prove their excellence in their field this weekend, and it is the responsibility of the Media section to keep an informative eye on the events that will unfold over the next few days. Stay up to date by following our Twitter (@texasyg), Instagram (@texasyg), and Snapchat (austinymca), and best of luck to all Youth and Government delegates this weekend.