October 18 YIG Program Committee Meeting

On October 18, we had our first meeting as the YIG Program Committee (formerly YIG State Committee) at the Knowles YMCA Annex in Jefferson City. Video news directors and advisors worked closely with print press advisors and directors to prepare specific details for the Lewis and Clark Conventions.

Governor Candidates Debate

First on the agenda was discussing how the print press and video news was going to handle the governor candidates debate on Thursday night at the state convention.

Moderators:

The print press and video news programs are in charge of moderating the event. Two members from the print press and one member from the video news program will moderate. Katie Lynn of the Springfield Delegation will be the video news moderator for the Clark Convention. Hannah Pingelton will be the video news moderator for the Lewis Convention.

Room Setup:

The Governor Candidates Debate will be held in the Capitol and Truman Ballroom in the Capitol Plaza Hotel. Approximately four rows will be set up with moderators placed between each row in front of the stage for the candidates to see.

Candidate Questions:

Questions for each candidate may be submitted by YIG students through a submission box that will be located in the hotel lobby on Thursday. The question box will be retrieved by the moderators around 9:00 p.m. (the governor candidates debate begins at 9:30 p.m.). Moderators will have approximately 30 minutes to review questions from the submission box (all questions read at the debate will be supplied by YIG students, print press and video news program members).

Question/Answer Timing:

Each candidate will have three minutes (3:00) to answer each question with a one minute and thirty second (1:30) chance for a rebuttal. Delegated YIG students will hold three different color cards announcing to each candidate how much time he or she has left in their response — green cards = half of the allotted time is up, yellow cards = one minute (1:00) left, and red cards = fifteen seconds (:15) left.

Utilizing Channel 14 at the Hotel

Channel 14 is the channel the video news program uses to broadcast the nightly and morning newscasts, as well as the Secretary of State Show and candidate commercials. At the YIG Program Committee Meeting, we discussed using Channel 14 as a looping message board that will be broadcast over the hotel when the video news students are not airing their already-scheduled programming. The message board would include the schedule of events for each day as well as short preproduced segments over particular program events.

Special Project: YIG Testimonials for the Web

State Director Ken Hussey has a special project for the video news program this year. He would like students in the video news program to create short video testimonials for future and current YIG students. Each testimonial would be between :30 and :60 long, focusing on why students participate in YIG, what they love about their specific programs, etc. Ken would like to take these video testimonials and upload them on YouTube (the video testimonials will be edited into one concise 3-5 minute production). The video would also be embedded in the YCMA YIG website.

At the Program Committee Meeting, Katie Lynn, Chase Snider, and Amiria Harper-Rose got a jump start on the project by interviewing directors and advisors from various programs. There will be additional opportunities at each convention to interview students from different programs about their YIG experience.

According to Ken, these short testimonials could be great recruitment tools, as well as good videos to use with prospective donors to the YMCA YIG program.

Here is an example of what the YMCA of the USA did this past summer at the Youth Governors Conference in Washington, D.C. (The communications team at the YMCA of the USA put this production together.): http://www.youtube.com/user/ymca

Giving Back To The Community

At the YIG Program Committee Meeting, State Director Ken Hussey talked about having the Missouri YMCA YIG program give back to the community during their state conventions this year by donating nonperishable food items to the local food bank. As details are scheduled, more information will be posted on this particular issue.

Please note: This would be a great story idea for both state conventions!

Best Buy Community Relations

Thanks to the research of Chase Snider of the Springfield Delegation (Clark Convention), he found out that Best Buy donates equipment and technology to certain nonprofit organizations. At the meeting, State Director Ken Hussey was informed about this program and will be looking into applying for equipment for the 2009 state conventions.

http://www.bestbuyinc.com/community_relations/index.htm

From the Best Buy website:

"Giving back to our communities is central to the way we do business at Best Buy. Each year, Best Buy donates up to 1.5% of pretax earnings through the Best Buy Children's Foundation and Corporate giving programs to help strengthen our communities.

As a Company, and through our Foundation, we work with nonprofit organizations to support programs that provide opportunities for youth. Our goal is to provide positive experiences that will help them to excel in school, engage in their communities, and develop leadership skills. We also support national organizations that provide essential social services, such as the United Way and American Red Cross, to improve the vitality of the communities where our employees and customers live and work."

There Is Much Work To Be Done!

Video news directors — make sure to stay in contact with each other regarding work for your upcoming state conventions. This blog is just a way to keep the line of communication open for video news program members...however, it's up to you to make it all happen!

YIG In The News

Thanks to State Director Ken Hussey for pointing us to this article. And great quote from Nick Book, who was interviewed by the St. Charles County Suburban Journal about the video news program.

Teens learn the ropes of political process

Howell Central hosts Youth in Government training conference

It doesn't take an Einstein to be an elected official, but Kalaan Travis shows it does take concentration as he listens during a Youth In Government candidate training session Saturday at Francis Howell Central High School. (Ryan Prewitt photo)

By Raymond Castile Tuesday, October 7, 2008 3:18 AM CDT

Political hopefuls drilled themselves Saturday preparing for debates, campaigns and interviews.

There were no elephants or donkeys, just hundreds of teenagers learning the ins and outs of the political process.

The Missouri YMCA Youth In Government program conducted its regional training conference Saturday at Francis Howell Central High School, attracting nearly 300 students from 15 high schools and YMCA delegations throughout the St. Louis area.

The program's lieutenant governor, Tim Coady, 17, spent the day helping student senators learn to draft and debate bills.

"I feel it is the duty of each generation to learn the fundamentals of democracy and exercise their voice in the political process," said Coady, a senior at Francis Howell Central.

This year, both the governor and lieutenant governor are from the Francis Howell School District. Organizers said this is the first time that has happened in at least 18 years, and perhaps in the program's entire history.

Hanna Xu, 17, a senior at Francis Howell High School, was elected lieutenant governor last year. She advanced to the top post in December after the elected governor resigned.

Xu spent Saturday leading the senate training sessions with Coady, making sure the youth senators will not be "confused" at the state convention Nov. 13-15 in Jefferson City.

"We do whatever the actual people do in state government," Xu said. "We might even work better than the actual state government."

Margo Hoffmann, a Francis Howell Central Youth In Government facilitator and math teacher, said students who learn to write bills will have a better understanding of how and why laws are passed.

"I hope it makes them better Americans," Hoffmann said.State program director Ken Hussey, 29, said YMCA Youth In Government teaches students about responsibility and leadership, giving them the skills and confidence to be active citizens.

The program is divided into six groups. Students in the legislative branch learn how bills are developed, debated and enacted. Members of the judicial branch learn how trials are conducted. The executive branch helps lead the training and oversee parliamentary processes. Lobbyists support the legislators in passing bills. Print press and video news students interview candidates and file reports during the state convention.

This is the first year the program has been divided into two sections, each with its own state convention.

The Lewis convention is in November. The Clark state convention will be Dec. 4-6 in Jefferson City. Schools pick which convention they want to attend. The split was necessary to accommodate the record number of participants - more than 750 students from 38 schools and YMCA delegations.

During the convention, students will vote on pretend bills and elect their 2009 leaders.

Emily White, 16, a junior at Francis Howell Central, is running for secretary of state. During the training sessions, she practiced debating bills in the House of Representatives, something she will do during the state convention in Jefferson City.

"I think it is actually pretty close to reality," White said. "You use the same words you would use in government, like a real representative would do."

Eileen Koppy, 14, a freshman at Lindbergh High School in St. Louis County, is part of the program's judicial branch. She said she learned what to say and what not to say in a mock trial.

"You should say all the things that will help you win the case and don't say anything that will not help you win," she said. "Especially, don't say anything negative about your client."

Koppy said it was fun to act like a lawyer.

"You can act like you have a real job, like a grown-up," she said. "And you can miss school to go to conventions."

Lindbergh freshman Emily Antrobus, 14, was enrolled in the lobbyist program. Antrobus said a good lobbyist has to be outgoing and persuasive.

"You have to learn how to get credible information," she said. "Because if it's not credible, it's not really worth anything."

Disseminating credible information is one of the skills Nick Book, 16, is learning in the video journalism program. Book, a sophomore at Francis Howell Central, will interview teen politicos at the state convention for a closed-circuit television news broadcast. Book said he is undecided about his career, but is considering journalism.

"I think it would be a fun job, talking to different people and learning about different things," Book said. "It keeps your mind open to ideas other than what you believe. You can't have any bias."

Coady will preside over the youth senate in November. He said he looks forward to working with people of different opinions to find solutions based on facts rather than argument.

"It's not how the real government works, but it's how it should work," Coady said. "If everyone in this program continued on into politics, this is how the real government would be."

Newscast Name and Song Chosen

At the St. Louis Regional Training on Oct. 4, students voted and here are the results:

This year's newscast will be called YIG 360 and the newscast theme song is "Don't Stop Believing" by Journey.

Stay tuned, more information will be posted later.