Youth In Government - A Hands-on Experience in Democracy

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.