YMCA YOUTH & GOVERNMENT

YMCA YOUTH & GOVERNMENT NORTH CAROLINA

What is YAG? • Leadership • Experience government first-hand • Debate and discuss issues with peers • Brings together North Carolina high school students for a four-day, three-night conference in downtown Raleigh

WHEN AND WHERE? • Delegation Meetings during school year • First-Year Orientation introduces students to the program and addresses important information • Split by region (ours is at Forsyth Country Day School on September 29th from 2:30-4:30) • Pre-Conference • Required • Gain a better understanding of their requirements, practice debate and hear from guest speakers(January 5th) • Conference • Four-day, three-night conference (Thursday-Sunday, February 6th-9th) • Debating, arguing and having fun alongside 1,400 new friends

What’s the Cost? • $385 covers four days including breakfast, lunch, and dinner, hotel room, etc. • Scholarships options (more info later) • Fundraising

Roles…

BUDGET ANALYST(10th – 12th) • No experience required to participate • Will be assigned Y&G bills and must submit a budget analysis for each bill in order to participate • You will argue for or against bills, whichever is in the best interest of the state budget, during both committees and chambers

Lobbyist (10th – 12th) • No experience required to participate • Will be assigned agencies and corresponding Y&G bills and must submit a background paper for their agency and position papers for each bill in order to participate • You will argue for or against bills, whichever is in the best interest of your agency, during committees at the conference • When not in committees, lobbyists will work as teams to hold rallies, get petitions signed, etc. to try and sway legislators

2013-2014 Program Updates • There will now be teams comprised of 2 Budget Analysts and 2 Lobbyists • There are now 2 Senior Analyst positions to assist the Budget Committee Chair and the Secretary of State • Heavy focus on speaking training in December • No one will say “physical responsibility” • They can try to get ads in the paper that either try to sway students one way or the other about certain bills

COURT OF APPEALS (9th – 12th) • No experience required to participate • May work as an individual or in pairs • Will be assigned two court cases and must submit a brief for each in order to participate • You will serve as an appellate attorney and argue your side of the case against other attorneys. The best attorneys for each case will be selected and then they will present in front of all judicial participants

COURT OF APPEALS - UPDATES • Required to submit briefs to their Associate Justices by the start of conference. Any student that does not submit a brief will be sent home. • There will be more case law incorporated into briefs • We will be adding a Deliberation Room as a rotation. All students will serve as a Guest Judge several times throughout the weekend. At the conclusion of their term as Guest Judge, they will move to the Deliberation Room where they will discuss, alongside other Guest Judges, the outcomes of the case • Students will receive feedback from Associate Justices after their presentation. This time will be built into the court schedule • We are also trying to recruit attorneys and judges to serve during the conference so that they can also offer feedback to student attorneys • We will be adding a Scoring Sheet. The winner will be determined based on use of case law instead of just on strength of presentation. There will still be awards given for presentation skills • Time for presentations will be extended to 15 minutes for each side of the case • We will have new cases that are more complex in nature. Our goal is that the rulings should be pretty even, rather than having one side of the case win the majority • Both the scheduling and brief submission will be done online • Pre-Conference will have a heavy focus on Guest Judge training so that students are prepared to serve in this capacity. Awards will be given for Best Guest Judges • Cases will be assigned at Pre-Conference • Saturday afternoon showcase will be in the Convention Center and Legislative students will be invited to attend

FRESHMAN FORUM (9th) • Will be placed into teams of four students at the Pre-Conference, where you will select a topic of interest, i.e. animal rights, education, immigration, health care, etc. From there, you will begin to brainstorm potential ideas for bills • At the conference, your team will write a bill, take it through committees and then present your bill in front of the Freshman Legislature. If your bill passes, then you will present in front of the Youth Governor to potentially have your bill signed into Y&G law • 2013-2014 Program Updates • Every participant will now participate in every role of Forum (bill author, lobbyist, budget analyst) • There will be one team captain per team. This person will be responsible for communicating to the Forum officers • There will be one email address for Forum that all students can use. This email will be checked daily by Forum officers

GOVERNOR'S CABINET • Application due by September 30, 2013 • Expectations: • Required to be a Senior with at least 1 year of Y&G Conference experience at time of appointment • Recognized for his/her leadership within the school, community, and/or YMCA • Express concern and knowledge of issues affecting the state of North Carolina • Be a positive example of the Governor’s office

GOVERNOR'S CABINET • Duties: • Attend all Cabinet meetings called by the Governor or Chief of Staff • Ask pertinent questions of all bill authors who present to the Cabinet • Visit many different committees and chambers to track various different bills • Research and read all bills prior to the Conference • Actively participate during all bill discussions in the Governor’s office • Serve as positive leaders for the entire North Carolina Youth & Government program throughout the year

GOVERNOR'S CABINET • 2013-2014 Program Updates • We will have 10 students on Governor’s Cabinet this year • Governor’s Cabinet members will be split into pairs and assigned to committees. Once bills get passed through the second body, the bill authors will schedule meetings with the Chief of Staff, who will assign them to a Governor’s Cabinet pair. Only select bills will be heard directly by the Governor • When bills are being submitted online, there will now be a place to select ‘Committee Type’. The list will include Health/Human Services, Education, Transportation, etc. This list will also include a space for Governor’s Agenda bills. Any bill that may fall into two committees, where one of the committee options is Governor’s Agenda, should be selected as Governor’s Agenda, as a higher priority is placed on such topics

LEGISLATOR • Representative (10th – 12th) • No experience required to participate • Must submit an original bill, either as an individual or in a group no larger than 3 people, in order to participate • Senator (11th – 12th) • Must be a Junior or Senior with at least one year of conference experience • Must submit an original bill, either as an individual or in a group no larger than 3 people, in order to participate

LEGISLATOR • 2013-2014 Program Updates • All bills will be accepted into the bill book. This means a heavier focus on bill writing. • Bills can still be written by students working as solos, duos, or trios • However they chose to partner up, everyone must be a part of a bill • Bills will be submitted online to the advisor. Advisors will need to be diligent in proofreading every bill to make sure that it matches exactly the criteria • Once bills are approved by the advisor, they will be sent through the online bill site to the State Office • Joke bills will not be accepted by the State Office. Unfortunately, students will only be given one shot at submitting a bill. If that bill is deemed a joke bill, the student(s) associated with that bill will not be allowed to participate in conference

LEGISLATOR • Fiscal Responsibility: All bills must contain a financial component. This past year we asked bill authors to be prepared to talk about the fiscal responsibility of a bill. This year all bills must actually include how much it will cost the state, should their proposed legislation be signed into law • Governor's Agenda: We are excited to announce our first ever Governor’s Agenda! Basically this is a broad suggestion of topics that the Youth Governor would like to see discussed at the Youth Legislature. Here it is: • C: construction of infrastructure system. Example: City planning, highway development • H: health concern resolutions. Example: North Carolina obesity (9th largest) • A: assess ways to improve the unemployment rate. (5th highest). Example: Cutting benefits given to unemployed personnel. • S: security and the justice system regulations to ensure increased safety. Example: Gun violence/ law enforcement/ voter ID • E: efficient energy improvement using clean energy sources. Example: renewable energy/ wastewater/ hazardous waste

LEGISLATOR • Combining bills: The bill book will be prepared by Pre-Conference. At this time, any student(s) that wish(es) to combine bills may do so with anyone at their Pre-Conference. In other words, if there are multiple bills on the topic of cutting obesity rates amongst children, then those students may choose to combine efforts. At that time, they must choose one bill to represent their interest. In other words, one bill goes away, although the ideas may be combined through ‘Friendly Amendments’ during committees. There may be no more than 6 students representing any combined bill • Bill Flow: The flow of bills will also be different this year. All bills will start in non-specific committees on Thursday afternoon (aka there will not be a designation between House and Senate). Bills CAN fail in committees now!! If a bill passes in committee then it will move into the chambers of its originating body, aka House or Senate. If a bill fails in committee then it will not move on to chambers. This process continues once in chambers. Bills that fail in their originating body will not move on to the second body. In other words, the only way a bill can get to the Governor’s Cabinet would be if it passes in committees and both House and Senate Chambers

MEDIA • Media Member (9th – 12th) • No experience required to participate • Will be given an assignment (video, print, social media, or photography) and must submit a sample of work in order to participate • Media students work to produce newspapers, slideshows, broadcasts, photography, social media, and much more in order to capture the successes of students at the conference

MEDIA • 2013-2014 Program Updates • Heavier focus on social media this year…and starting sooner • User-submitted photo/video contests • Leading up to the conference there will be social media activities for delegations to engage in • This will also be an integral part of the candidate process • We will probably go back to putting newspapers under hotel room doors so that students can read them while they are getting ready • Candidate profiles for Executive Officer positions will be available at Pre-Conference, including links to their social media pages • There will be user-submitted blog posts published regularly at www.ncyag.org • Governor Candidates will be much more visual during the conference • They will be asked fun questions on Thursday night • The serious questions on Saturday will be better balanced and more fair • The paper will also have ‘hidden items’ within that can earn students free YAG swag • Social media links will be on the hotel keys this year • Media Editor on stage every morning to highlight big media stuff

MOCK TRIAL • Mock Trial (9th – 12th) • No experience required to participate • Must submit application in order to be considered • Role options include Attorney and Witness • Will be assigned one trial court case • The best mock trial team for each side of the case will be selected and then they will present in front of all judicial participants

MOCK TRIAL • 2013-2014 Program Updates • There will be an application process where interested students can indicate their role preference. Role options include: • Attorney: they will present as both the prosecuting and defense attorneys • Witness: this is a great way to get some drama/acting students involved in Y&G • Each team will consist of 2 Attorneys and 2-3 Witnesses • Team captains will be selected to lead each team. Team captains will serve as attorneys • We are hoping to put this program either in the new Justice Center or at Campbell Law • Cases will be assigned at Pre-Conference • Saturday afternoon showcase will be in the Convention Center and Legislative students will be invited to attend • Associate Justices from Court of Appeals will serve as the jury for the Showcase Round on Saturday afternoon

OFFICER • Appointed Official • Clerks, Messengers, Sgt. at Arms, and Chaplains require no conference experience at time of appointment • Floor Leaders and Committee Chairs require one year of conference experience at time of appointment • Media Editor, Chief of Staff, Secretary of State, and Budget Committee Chair, as well as budget, lobbyist, and media leadership, are appointed at the end of the conference. No additional conference experience is required • Elected Official • Presiding Officers and Associate Justices require no experience prior to campaigning/election • Governor and Chief Justice candidates must be Juniors in High School at the time of campaign/election with one year of prior conference experience • Lt. Governor candidates must be Juniors in High School at the time of campaign/election with one year of prior conference experience and must serve as committee chairs at this year’s conference • Speaker of the House candidates must be Sophomores in High School at the time of campaign/election with one year of prior conference experience and must serve as committee chairs at this year’s conference

Important Dates • September 29th – First Year Orientation • October 11th – Total Number of Students Due • October 15th – Delegation Assignments Received • October 28th – Registration Opens • November 22nd – Last Day to Submit Bills • December 6th – Half of Payment is Due • January 5th – Pre-Conference • February 6th-9th – Conference!!

YMCA YOUTH & GOVERNMENT