70th Year YMCA


By: Christine Brady

            The Model General Assembly was founded by New York State. Virginia held their first Model General Assembly in 1948. This first event hosted between one-hundred and two-hundred people. This conference used to last four days, instead of three. The names of conferences vary based on the state. MGA has historically always been co-ed, but the first woman Youth Governor was elected in 1971.
            Sharon Davies has been attending MGA for eleven years. To her dismay, her school never had the opportunity to attend MGA. However, she has been able to get involved in other ways. She has been the YMCA Executive Director of MGA since 2009. She feels that if MGA grows much more in the state of Virginia, another house or senate might have to be added. She feels that the best part of MGA is that “there are no parties and everyone is encouraged to think independently.”

            Mark Mingee has been attending MGA for fifteen years. He is now the President of the YMCA Board of Directors. He finds MGA interesting to attend because “concerns of legislative change based on geographical region.” He is most proud of the Underclassmen Legislation, which was added to MGA about seven years ago. He finds that Underclassmen Legislation has been a great addition to MGA because is causes the younger attendees to become “more aware and invested in the government and the bills surrounding the government.”

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A New Hope: A Revamp of Virginia’s Firearm Safety Education    By: Kobe Mora Delegate Ben Spencer stated that “265 children died from gun accidents in 2015” after he successfully passed Bill No. 60 unanimously in the House Education Committee. The bill entailed an instructional course for elementary schoolers in grades K-4 which included a bi-weekly 1-hour course based on the NRA’s Eddie Eagle gun safety course. However, for most delegates it wasn’t enough as safety education wasn’t continued past elementary school. Delegate Ronny Malone said “I like the bill and the elementary curriculum but it needs to be more sophisticated for high schoolers” agreeing with most delegates in the room.  Even as the bill was passed, there was already talk of a huge floor amendment planned for Friday’s committee.             “I think the bill is good, but it can be extreme in cases” said Lobbyist Brooke Tanner who is among...
Read more
MGA and its Magnificence By: Rosalind Coolidge In the Opening Session for the 70th annual Model General Assembly, Mark Johnston, the Youth Governor, inspired Assembly participants as he welcomed them to the “awesome program” about to unfold, stressing that the gathering was about much more than just enacting a bill into law. Governor Johnston said that through this opportunity he has learned much about the political process, but has also made new friends.  In his speech, Johnston explained that this learning process can “make them [the students] feel like they can make a difference in the world,” and that's what the Governor intends to do in his term and as he advances in his future. Regent University Sophomore, Stacey Reibold, an alumna of MGA, said her involvement with this program “taught leadership even though people look down on our generation and think that they are immature and that they don’t really know what they are doing. MGA gives you that voice you want to p...
Read more
The Role of MGA Delegates By: Mikayla Johnson Delegates are a key component of MGA; they are the ones who start the fire of debating. They bring out the true essence behind bills by constantly brainstorming brilliant questions, and bring forward some of the unseen intentions of a bill. Delegates represent their delegations by presenting bills and speaking in House committees and on the floor of the House of Delegates. Without a delegate, we could not truly understand every aspect of a bill. A delegate from Salem High School said: “We show the true colors of a bill, we ask questions that uncover points that normally would be overlooked or ignored.” One delegate from Radford stated that “we are the fire beneath MGA’s feet, we keep things moving, and we prove that not every bill that sounds good is truly beneficial to everyone.”  Delegates can also help push bills to be put into action, they get to vote on bills which can pass them on to the Youth Governor to be signed into...
Read more