MANSFIELD — Every time a customer tries to check out tobacco or alcohol products, cashier Ja’Niyah Davis has to track down a supervisor.
Davis, 16, works at Kroger. She’s experienced first-hand the inconvenience this causes both her and her check-out customers, especially if her supervisor happens to be busy.
So, she wrote a bill to change the requirements dealing with that situation.
“You have to be 18 with certification to scan alcohol products and tobacco products,” said Davis, a junior at Mansfield Senior High School.
“My bill proposes lowering that age to 16, still with certification. It’ll make things a lot more efficient.”
Davis wrote the bill for Youth and Government, a national YMCA program that brings high school students together for state-organized, model-government programs.
Students spend the early months of the school year learning about the three branches of government. They debate issues, learn legislative frameworks and language, write their own bills and fine-tune them with their peers.
Youth and Government culminates with a three-day conference in Columbus, where teens propose and debate their bills. Most serve as legislators; some choose to be a lobbyist or justice on the state Supreme Court.
Youth and Government also has leadership positions. At the end of each conference, delegates elect next year’s leadership, including the president of the senate, speaker of the house, chief justice, attorney general and the governor, who appoints a cabinet.
Landon Nicholson, a senior at Mansfield, was part of this year’s Supreme Court. He said the program has taught him that making change requires much more than a good idea.
“There’s a lot of intricacies,” he said. “You have to be make sure it’s constitutional. You have to make sure it goes within the law correctly.
“You’ve got to think of every single nuance it has. It’s hard.”
‘This is how government works’
Robert Watson, the program’s advisor, said Youth and Government members take their legislation seriously. Students argue and critique each other’s bills with the same brutal honesty one could expect at the statehouse.
“They bring their ideas to other students and then they sort of pick apart,” said Watson, a social studies teacher at Mansfield Senior High.
“It’s the first time many of them have really been challenged by their peers openly. Sometimes they get frustrated and that’s how they learn, this is how government works.”
While such honesty can be frustrating at times, it paid off for this year’s Tyger delegates. Fourteen student bills made it to the youth governor’s desk. Nine of them were signed, including Davis’.
Davis said she appreciated the chance to meet high schoolers from across the state.
“We didn’t even realize how much we had in common or that we’re all coming from the same place trying to create something,” she said.
“Everyone’s very well-spoken and opinionated at such a young age and we’re also respectful of each other. We can argue with each other in a respectful manner.”
Mansfield had the largest delegation at the conference, with 41 high school students. It’s a sharp contrast from the nine-member crew Watson oversaw during his first year as the program’s advisor.
Watson credits that growth to the students involved.
“They’re learning about government, but they’re having a great time,” he said.
“They’re making friends and arguing bills and they’re working through processes in a way that they really enjoy. They come back and tell their friends, ‘You should do this next year. You’ll like it.'”
Watson said the program attracts a variety of students. Those who participate tend to do better on their civics exams.
“In reality, this helps your B and C students,” he said. “Instead of just pictures and theory and graphs about government, they actually walk through government and do different things.”
“They experience things. They live through it,” he continued. “They understand government better and then they actually score better on the state test. We’ve actually looked at some of the kids’ numbers.”
Loud and proud Tygers
Brandon Polak, a senior and the club’s outgoing president, said Mansfield is well-known in the state’s Youth and Government sphere.
The Mansfield delegation received several accolades during this year’s conference. Meredith Heckert was selected best representative. Sophie Henderson was chosen best senator. Kiara Bragg was declared best judicial representative and Julianna Williams was named best lobbyist.
Polak and Davis were selected as delegates for the Conference on National Affairs, a week-long summer program also run by the YMCA.
“When we go into Youth and Government, we are loud and we are proud Tygers, and that’s how it should be,” Polak said during the club’s end-of-the-year celebration.
Then there’s the elected officials: Davis was elected President of the Senate. Junior Sydney Rizzo will succeed Polak as the conference’s Chief Justice.
“As chief justice, I will look through all the bills that everyone from every school has written and see if they’re unconstitutional, then we’ll have a trial,” Rizzo said.
“So bills can get shut down, even if they pass (the legislature), based on the Ohio constitution.”
Youth & Government inspires civic engagement outside the classroom
During the end of the year party for this year’s Mansfield chapter, Polak asked fellow delegates to share their “highlights” from the conference. They laugh about new inside jokes, time spent with friends and even about the food poisoning some of them endured during the trip.
“I’m a little crushed that it’s my last year doing this,” said Kaiya Bookman, a senior and the chapter’s vice president.
“The best part about it for me is just spending time with everybody, getting to build bonds and get to know people.”
Polak shared similar sentiments during a closing speech.
“My favorite memories and Youth in Government weren’t at the Statehouse. They were in this room,” he told the group.
“Working with each of you individually to build your bills, working with all of you guys to expand your debate skills, those are the highlights for me.”
Many students said Youth and Government has inspired them towards civic engagement. Rizzo said she hopes to work in environmental policy. Polak has aspirations of becoming a U.S. Senator. Bookman said she hopes to run for Richland County coroner one day.
“Before Youth and Government, I was a really quiet and reserved person,” Bookman said. “I can talk in front of groups of people now, I’ve become more politically involved.”
Nicholson said he’s not sure if he wants to pursue a career in politics, but he’s open to it.
“I don’t really know if it’s what I want to do, but I’ll definitely be more involved,” he said. “I’ll go to meetings if I want to. I’m definitely going to vote on everything.”
Davis agreed.
“I’m not a huge political person, but I am a people person,” Davis said. “We could use more of that.”
