The weekend of November 8-9 was a busy one for our school’s chapter of the Junior Statesmen of America. Ten members spent their weekend in the Capital building in Madison, participating in debates on various political issues. With a formal day time debate block on Saturday and Sunday, and a fun night block on Saturday night, “JSAers” had plenty of events to attend and take part in.
The Junior Statesmen of America club is a place for young people to express their opinions, engage in political debate, and build leadership skills to create connections with others as well as exchange ideas. However this club is much more than the meeting held after school, because JSA holds three big events each year: Fall State, Winter Congress, and Spring State. This school year our very own chapter attended one of these occasions, where JSA chapters from all over the Midwest gathered, debated, and socialized the JSA way on a much larger scale!
All day, members of the JSA, that on any other weekend would be average high school students, became sophisticated young men and women who were dressed sharply. Holding themselves with confidence, they spent time debating real world issues in the Capital, the place where real Wisconsin representatives work daily. They did everything from presenting pro and con speeches in formal debates, proposing subsequent speeches, and partaking in thought talks, on various topics. On Saturday night, tired from debating hard all day, everyone settled down and had some fun. Our chapter took part in the chapter caucus, where a specially made JSA cheer was presented in hopes of earning some laughter and raising everyone’s spirit.
To finish off Fall State on Sunday afternoon, best speaker awards were presented to those who presented their pro or con speech to their absolute best and impressed the audience. Our JSAers were proud to hear it when one of their own members, Emily Lambert (’16) was presented with a best speaker award, and an official JSA gavel for her main pro speech in the debate to resolve the statement: “Public high schools propagate mediocrity.”
Some other things to be acknowledged of the BC JSA at fall state are, Hannah Pyatetskiy (’16) and Anna Barry (‘16) presenting a con speech as partners in a stutter debate, Abbey Olson (’15) acting as a moderator in a night time debate, and Julia Schmidt (’15) participating in the mock trial as an attorney.
“Fall State was an incredible experience for Brookfield Central JSA. The whole event was planned by high school students for high school students. From debating all throughout the capital building to chapter bonding over pizza to post-convention lunch at Ella’s Deli, it was an absolute success. I think that’s a testament to JSA as a whole. It’s so much more than an organization for teens to discuss politics. It’s the best place to meet the best people,” said chapter president of the Brookfield Central’s JSA, Olson.