Amity Students Travel to Washington; Debate Legislation

This past weekend 42 Amity High School students traveled to Washington, D.C. as part of the Junior State of America’s Winter Congress convention.

The Junior State of America is broken into nine different Junior States; Connecticut falls in the Northeast State. Over 850 students from New York, Connecticut, Massachusetts, and the Del Campo School in Honduras converged on our nation’s capital to debate bills that they wrote and experience the legislative process first hand.

Winter Congress is three days long; Friday is purely exploring DC and culminated with a keynote address from Assistant Attorney General Ron Weich who is responsible for the office that represents the Department of Justice on all legislative matters. Weich was nominated by President Obama in 2009 after serving Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, the late Senator Ted Kennedy, and Senator Arlen Specter. Weich spoke to the students about the importance of civic involvement and urged the students to stay active and defeat the stereotype that the current generation is politically apathetic.

The Amity Delegation spent Friday exploring the Smithsonian Museums of Air and Space and Natural History along with brief visits to the National Art Gallery and the Native American Museum.

The students had a dining experience at Union Station, Washington’s main train station which also has several floors of shopping and dining.Saturday, the students debated bills written by students. Each student was broken up into a House or Senate A-I and assigned a docket of 10 bills. Some bills include ‘A Bill to Instate CPR Training/ Certification in all Secondary Learning Institutions,’ ‘A Bill to Eliminate the Income Tax for all Workers Under the Age of Eighteen,’ and ‘A Bill to Establish a Non-Partisan U.S. Department of Communications.’

One final example of a bill was written by two Amity students, Rahul Dey of Woodbridge and Kusal Yapa of Orange, which is ‘A Bill to Eliminate the United States Permanent Residency Card.’ Saturday evening, students had an option to enjoy a dance at the hotel the convention was hosted at, the Doubletree Crystal City, or go on a monument tour.

The Monument Tour made stops at the Washington, Lincoln, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and World War II, just to name a few.

The students wrapped up the convention and finished their roles as legislators as Sundays Joint Committee sessions were held. The Joint Committees are committees of multiple house or senates that debate bills that passed Saturday’s Houses and Senates. After the Joint Committees concluded, all 850-plus students reconvened for Candidacy Declarations and Closing Session.In addition to being a mock Congress, it also is the kick-off of the Junior State campaign season.

This year, Amity has two students running for elected office. Miles Halpine, a junior from Bethany declared his candidacy for Empire Constitution Region (ECR) Mayor. The Empire-Constitution Region is New York and Connecticut.

Bajia Reed of Woodbridge declared her candidacy for Northeast State Lieutenant Governor. The Northeast State consists of two ‘regions,’ The Empire Constitution being one and the New England Region (NER) being the other. The New England Region is made up of Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine.

Both Miles and Bajia will campaign from now until Apr. 3 when the Northeast State meets again in Stamford, CT for Spring State. Their next event is the Amity High School Minicon.

A minicon is a one-day event hosted by a local school. After the Candidacy Declarations, the convention was declared closed by Northeast State Program Director Elliott Nguyen.

Nguyen, a full time staff member of the Junior State hoped that the “students learn from the bill process, not only how Congress works, but how to fight for a bill, create compromises, and win support.”

He added, “The international students not only experience what the US students do, but hopefully have the chance to forge friendships in the US and to experience the ways of our government and our capital, while learning more about the democratic process.”The Junior State of America is one of the nation’s leading student run organization.

The mission of the Junior State is to, “strengthen American democracy by educating and preparing high school students for life-long involvement and responsible leadership in a democratic society.”

More than 500,000 students have been members of the Junior State of America, including Mike McCurry, President Clinton’s Press Secretary. Junior Statesmen have also heard from official such as President Obama, Senator McCain, President Bill Clinton, and Rep. Newt Gingrich. For more information on the Junior State of America, visit www.JSA.org. 

For full disclosure, Bob Brown has been an active member of the Junior State since his freshman year and currently is serving as the Chapter President of the Amity High School Junior State chapter.