By Benedicte Djontu
North Central Texas Academy

The 2026 YMCA Texas Youth and Government State Conference kicked off Thursday, February 26, at the Kalahari Resort & Convention Center. Though the hotel looks intriguing and beautiful, one thing in particular caught my eye. As I walked in, I noticed different color shirts passing by me. To my surprise, the State Conference includes not only Fort Worth and Dallas but Houston, Austin, and San Antonio as well. I figure that we underestimated the substantial size of the student body that attends State. As I made that discovery, I wondered if the different colors had a meaning behind them.

  • Dark blue represents Dallas.
  • Light blue represents Houston.
  • Black represents Austin, and San Antonio.
  • Green represents Fort Worth.

While capturing all the different shirt colors, I asked all the participants if they knew the meaning behind their shirt colors. To my surprise, most of the participants had no idea of the meaning behind their shirt designs. Dallas and Houston, having the most simplistic designs, while sharing the same color, didn’t have much to base off on. Austin and San Antonio, on the other hand, having more design patterns, still did not have an idea of the meaning behind their shirts.

Finally, when the same question was asked to Fort Worth, they mentioned that on their shirts, there are cowboy boots. Why might that be? Well, their guess was that the boots represent Fort Worth’s love for Line dancing! Now, it’s your turn to guess.

What do you think the shirts represent? Apart from the fact that all those areas of Texas are wearing different-colored shirts, there is a bigger picture to grasp here. I imagine how challenging it might be for people from diverse backgrounds to come together for a good cause. All parties have to commit to the end goal for the outcome to come to life. The Youth and Government program showcases the power of unity. Something that this country needs desperately at this moment.

With the times our Country is going through right now, the club is a great example of what we should each be doing. Getting informed about our country and using our voice to make a change. Now is when we make the change.