Hard work, dedication, collaboration, and a passion for leadership. The members of Washingtonville High School’s Youth in Government hold these values and characteristics close as they rise to become the top team in the county.
On November 22nd, Washingtonville’s Youth in Government team took to Newburgh Free Academy to compete against other schools in Orange County. Led by Ms. Bierling-Powers and Ms. Vandervloed, the team received an extraordinary outcome at the Steering Convention. They obtained seven of the 22 roles and placed second in the convention; coming close behind Minisink. This year, Washingtonville is in the running to win the 2024-2025 Youth in Government trophy for the first time in history.
Depending on the school, Youth in Government is a club or class that allows students to participate in a model government - proposing political policies, planks, and running for office positions. There are two main conventions each year: the Platform Convention, where students can group up to develop categorical planks on real-life societal problems, and the Steering Convention, where students run against individuals from other schools presenting self-written speeches while running for government positions.
At Washingtonville, Ms. Bierling-Powers views Youth in Government as a way for students to “make social connections, get outside of their school, and meet people from other districts.” At the Platform Convention, “students do a lot of work researching issues so that they can make laws and propose them. So there's research, and there is writing. They learn what a plank and what a law looks like, and they learn how to defend their points, which is important. So most of that, that's the preparation to begin with. And then just coming up with ideas for different laws.”
While generally, the club requires a lot of work, the Steering Convention holds a different kind of pressure. Leading up to the event, students and teachers “talk about how to give good political speeches. [They] talk about what different people at different levels of government do and what their jobs are. So a lot of that is learning how to give a good, you know, a good speech. And so they're very different kinds of activities and they appeal to different people.”
Reflecting on this year so far, Bierling-Powers shared, “one of the things I think this year that really helped us to be successful is that I think the students really took the role of turning it into actual youth in government - like a student-run club. And I think that that has actually really helped us. I think that is, you know, kind of made students more interested in what we're doing because it's being run from their peers and not so much from me or Ms. Van. So I think that that's actually a great thing that happened that I'm going to continue to do in the future is to find people who are willing to be officers and actually sort of run the whole run the whole club. I think that's working out well.”
A Washingtonville senior, Abigail Fontana, ran for the position of County Sheriff and won. To successfully present this candidacy speech, she “spent time crafting her speech, to articulate her points in a professional, political way perfectly,” however, she had to make sure the points she made would appeal to other high school students. For the club, Abigail believes “this year is one of Washingtonville's best, thanks to our hard work and leadership.” With each meeting, the club works hard to focus on everyone’s strengths and how to articulate them to win.
Youth in Government is a club all students are welcome to participate in. Samantha Wakeham, a Youth in Government member, reflected on her time in the club, stating that “everyone is so welcoming in the club, no matter the political standpoint, grade, or social status within the club. I felt welcome immediately. It is easy to talk to the people in the club whether it be about concerns or just in general. Everyone in the office is so sweet and genuinely deserves it. Youth in Government is the best club I’ve ever been in. Everyone gets a say and I’m so happy that I joined.”
Samantha was awarded the position of Family Court Judge this year at her first convention - even as a freshman. To her “winning a convention as a freshman was such an honor, and [she] was so happy to accomplish something so early in Youth in Government. [She is] so grateful and feel[s] like this opened up a whole new level of confidence for [her] in both [her] public speaking and opinions.” This boost supported Samatha’s plan to run for an office position in the future. She has learned so much and can't wait to see what the next three years will bring.
In January, a vote is cast to all participating schools in the county, where the winning speeches from the Steering Convention are recorded and posted, putting the Citizen’s and People’s Party winners against each other; anyone in the county can vote. Points are awarded to the schools of the respective winners. In the same month, all students are encouraged to watch each speech and vote for Washingtonville to help our school win a trophy. Not only would the win be an achievement for Youth in Government, but the accomplishment would bring pride to all our peers here at Washingtonville.
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