This past week, March fifth to the seventh, the Old Saybrook High School Youth and Government club had a successful trip to the CT state capital building, where they were able to not only engage in civic leadership, but strengthen skills like public speaking, debating and making new friends. This year Old Saybrook High School passed seven out of their eight bills – which is a proposal that aims to enact change in the school, community, or state.
Youth and Government is a civic club run by Mrs. Torre-Reily and is held once a month leading up to December, where students curate mock bills. Once December hits, the club starts to work on the bills more frequently and meet every other week after midterms, all leading up to the trip to the capital in Hartford. When the club gets to the capital there are a series of events that take place between Thursday and the end of Saturday, including: pro-con debates, bill presenting in both the Senate and House of Representatives, voting and extra programs such as this year’s International Women in State.
When the students create their bills, it’s to ultimately try and pass them in the state legislature. There were a few standout-members that OSHS brought to the conference this year including Hannah Belknap and Elizabeth Bubello as president of senate and secretary of state respectively. The club’s only freshman, Joshua Bernardson, also received “outstanding debater,” from the capital out of the whole conference. When spoken to on this accomplishment, Josh was proud to say he won this award by participating skillfully in pro-con debate, and posing questions regarding the bills. He also added that by joining Youth and Government it has, “helped me with public speaking, as that’s a large skill you can gain and it was nice to be introduced to so many new people.”
According to Torre-Reily, the most important of the conference is the life skills all the delegates gain, including public speaking, time management, building civic leadership and most notably, meeting new people and having a good time. Torre-Reily says that, “It is a great place to meet new people, and it is an incredible networking opportunity/conference, especially to build personal life skills. It is also a great place to make connections with kids from other schools and regions.”
For the future, the club is losing 11 out of their 16 students due to graduating seniors. These departures will allow opportunities for many other students to join.
Overall, the trip to the capital was a great opportunity for all those who participated, and as Mrs. Torre-Reily said, “it was great to make different connections and see different perspectives.”
