Participating students of the Youth and Government club traveled to Jefferson City to engage in a government roleplay sponsored by the YMCA from Nov. 14 to Nov. 16.
Students had the opportunity to learn about the process of state government by signing up for different roles in government. For example students can choose to participate in the house of representatives, senate, judicial, or media sections. They utilize the Missouri Capital’s senate and house chambers to debate on the bills made by the students while the judicial members study and argue a case and media members report on events throughout the day. Senior Nick Ruggeri said he learned how to properly debate his ideas.
“I found that my ideas matter a little bit more when I can articulate them right. If you can actually back up your arguments in a formal setting it makes it so much more impactful,” Ruggeri said.
Senior Ridwan Osman said the Youth and Government experience can help anyone learn about the government process.
“It would help anyone become a more involved person in politics because politics is something that affects all of us. Even if you don’t like the yelling and the badgering it’s still very important to know what our government is doing considering that every citizen is technically an active participant in it and I think it’s a good skill to know how our government works,” Osman said.
Senior Tamana Khwaja said this experience helped her learn about the process of government.
“I feel like I learned more about how the government works and different perspectives of students all around Missouri and I learned a lot about issues some of which I didn’t know existed,” Khwaja said
Members signed up to participate in the beginning of the year. Ruggeri said he joined so he could have an outlet to make a difference.
“I really like making a difference, kind of hard to do that as a child, but Youth and Government gave me an outlet to do that,” Ruggeri said.
Osman said he joined the club because of his interest in government.
“I signed up for YAG (Youth and Government) because I really love politics and government and youth and government is one of the best ways to not only get to have a good club and experience to do those things but also meet people all across the state who are also interested in those things,” Osman said
While participating in the senate branch, Ruggeri said he found a passion for making bills because he can make a difference.
“Making bills, legislating, never really occurred to me before this but now I found a passion I can actually make a difference in,” Ruggeri said.
Osman said this experience has helped him become a more educated voter for the state level.
“I think state and local government are much more neglected and everyone always thinks about the federal government but state and local government is what affects us probably more so I think it’s really important that people see that aspect as well,” Osman said.
Ruggeri said the conference inspired his passion for his future in politics.
“The first year I did it my junior year I was originally thinking about going into neuroscience so after I did it my junior year, I was pretty good I got an award, that really helped me gain that passion and build off of it. I don’t think it will necessarily help in my future career so much as it shaped it. Now I want to go into politics,” Ruggeri said.
Engle said he wants to run for office in the future and Youth and Government has helped him understand the process.
“[It helps me] just understand what I want to go into more [because] I eventually want to run for office,” Engle said.
