By Noor Mohamed
For many delegates, advancing from district to state builds the intensity to win. Second-year State Affars Forum team Nahian Khan, Jedidiah Udoumah, and Samatar Samatar from Summit International Preparatory share their journey as seniors to their final conference.
“This is our last year, so obviously we wanted to win. The only problem was that we were going to face other seniors at the state conference who would also feel this way,” Samatar said.
It became a real team effort to try and earn their place into the top ten proposals to make it to General Assembly in State of Affairs. However, the competition in the room was immensely present from the moment the first proposal was put on the floor.
For many delegates, they must master the art of duality in order to see both sides to their proposal to modify it as best as they can. The best authors are those that can assertively defend their points, but also can make amendments to the concerns their peers bring up.
“As a team, we wanted to place into top ten, but I made a personal goal for myself to be as engaged as I can whether it be as an intense speaker or formulate challenging point for debatable questioning,” Khan said.
While there was disappointment in not making it into the top ten, the second year team made sure to keep their spirits up as they wanted to enjoy as much of their final conference as possible.
Khan emphasized “We’re well into Day two and I would say I’m pretty proud of us. We’re all being active and vocal in session. By coming up with new ways to challenge our peers we are in turn learning and growing ourselves and that’s what we truly come to gain from Youth and Government.”
Similarly to the senior team, many delegates come to the annual conferences with personal goals and distinct definitions of success to meet. While not everyone makes it into the final rounds of proposal debate, it doesn’t diminish the hard work they put into their room.
Youth and Government students are the best of the best and when placed amongst each other everyone’s expectations of themselves are met face-to-face. Redefining success is what makes these students such great leaders.
Many move to shift directions to a more positive outlook and analyze other ways in which they can still grow during the conference so that they can use their refined skills when they make their way back to better their communities.