I recently had the privilege of
attending the 2012 YMCA Youth In Government Conference (YIG) in Columbia with a
group of outstanding high school students from Shannon Forest. For those of you who are not familiar with
YIG, it is a program geared towards creating a generation of responsible
citizens. Students participate in a mock state legislature system, where they
serve as state senators or representatives. Students are presented with a
hands-on experience in democracy as they write bills, present them in
committee, and if passed, present them on the House and Senate floor. Middle school students participate in a
similar experience with their group of peers.
Why is YIG such an outstanding
opportunity for our students? Besides
the really cool things, like sitting at a Senator's desk on the actual Senate
floor in the State House, using terms like "gavel",
"docket", "Madam Chair", and "non-debatable technical
questions" in your daily vocabulary, or having pizza delivered to your
hotel room nightly by the YIG resource staff, YIG provides an opportunity for a
students to experience government in action, understand their role in their
community and in public policy making, and to embrace the role of servant
leadership.
As I sat on the sidelines of the
Senate floor and watched our students debate bills by presenting the pro or con
side of legislation (often of serious issues such as welfare reform, small
business tax relief and requirements for adoptive parents), follow
parliamentary procedures, and align themselves with political party leaders, I
realized that YIG was about much more than just developing responsible, active
citizens. The skills acquired, developed and practiced during YIG are skills
all students will need to be successful in the global 21st Century economy they
will soon be entering. Skills such as:
- Collaboration - working with
team members to write a bill
- Critical thinking - researching
the merits of a bill and finding ways to support or disavow it based on sound
reasoning
- Communication - clearly
articulating your presentation of your bill or your support or objection to a
colleague's bill
- Influencing - networking to find
students from other schools to support your bill or swaying party leaders to
align with your cause
These 21st Century Skills are
areas we at Shannon Forest are working to develop in your student, as we desire
to equip them with a comprehensive education and prepare them for college and
the world beyond. These skills are not
tied to any particular career path, yet mastery of these disciplines will be
required for any vocation our students will choose in future.
If your student was able to
participate in Youth In Government, you can be assured the experience was something
unable to be duplicated in the classroom and provided your student with an
amazing opportunity to be part of a student led democracy. If your student
missed this chance, I hope you will consider having them participate next year,
as step-by-step, experience-by-experience we work to develop them into the
future employees, leaders, and influencers of society.
Lori Horton serves as the Executive Director of Shannon Forest Christian School (SFCS). She received her BS from Clemson University in Computer Information Systems. She worked in the Public Accounting field for several years prior to joining the Administrative Team at Shannon Forest, supporting multiple small business clients in bookkeeping, payroll, financial reporting, and compliance.
