The state conference for Youth and Government isn’t until January, but the officers and advisors have to decide the delegates going to state by Saturday, an unforeseen predicament considering the club’s growth in the past year.

“We are waiting to find out the amount of students we are allowed to bring,” club advisor Sarah Wiseman said. “Last year we got to take our entire delegation which was about 20 students, so you know this year that would be, if we keep the same number of students, that would be about half of the students being cut. We’re hoping we get about 30 seats at state, but there is no guarantee.”

Officers will decide the delegates going to state based on attendance and participation in club meetings, and overall behaviour in meetings. All delegates wanting a spot at the state conference will have to turn in their dues and paperwork by Saturday, the final date by which officers will have to decide which delegates will get to go to the state conference.

“We’ve about doubled since last year,” Wiseman said. “We were a little worried going into the school year that it was going to lose its foothold on campus.”

Though the membership growth was a surprise, many students are happy about the number of new delegates joining.

“I’m actually really excited. I was expecting us to have a decline in membership since we had a bunch of seniors leave last year,” junior Sam Mills said. “So I was pleasantly surprised with how many people we gained.”

New delegates are excited as well, as they wait to see whether or not they will get to go to state.

“I joined the club because I wanted a place where I could express my opinion and hear other peoples’ too,” freshmen Sanjana Dandu said. “I really want to go to state because I think it’ll be fun to hear from people all around the state.”