Redhawks in Youth and Government (YG) are leaving The Nest on Thursday to attend state competitions in Austin at the Kalahari Resort and Texas Capitol, competing Thursday evening, Friday, and Saturday, before returning on Sunday morning.
“State is a four day long conference where we debate bills and topics for three days in the Austin capitol,” YG president, senior Aashi Oswal said. “At the end, we have our awards ceremony and a dance which is always really fun!”
Students qualify for state after attending districts and meeting or exceeding a certain baseline score. This year, nine Redhawks will be attending state and participating in 3 days packed with highly competitive debates.
State is broken up into two sections: committee and joint session.
Much like the actual state legislature, delegates start in small committees of 15-20 individuals and debate everyone’s bills, voting on each. After completing committee debate, delegates move to joint session where, based on section assignments (Hyde House, House, and Senate), anywhere from 40 to over a 100 delegates debate proposed legislation from a set docket of five-six bills, based on the Youth Governor’s legislative priorities.
“We wake up around 6:30 and start committee around 8, where we either debate at the hotel or the capitol,” second-year delegate, junior Sahana Sethuraman said. “After lunch, we debate some more and then after dinner, we have free time where we get to go to the water park or the arcade at the hotel.”
In Oswal’s eyes, the competition affords students an opportunity to make new friends from all across the state, while improving their own confidence.
“We… go out for delegation dinners, which is always a nice bonding time,” Oswal said. “I hope delegates take away new friendships, confidence, and experience from state. There are people from all over Texas and so it’s amazing to get to meet and get close with strangers over the four day conference.”
But for Sethuraman, the most exciting part of state is getting a chance to have fun with friends after committee and joint session.
“I’m excited to spend time with friends and go on the rides at the arcade,” Sethuraman said.
