Morgan County High School dominates Ga. Youth Assembly

by michael prochaska
staff writer

With an approval rating at a record low and a hostile environment of partisan gridlock, perhaps Congress could learn something from Morgan County High School (MCHS).
MCHS attended the 67th Georgia Youth Assembly (GYA) from Nov. 20 to Nov. 22 at the state Capitol in Atlanta. About 60 students from the school passed, debated and amended bills that were just as authentically written, if not more visionary, than those of real-world elected officials.
“This is much bigger than a mock legislature,” said MCHS advisor and teacher Jim Malanowski. “We’ve had legislators come and say that they wished our kids would teach them.”
The three-day event is as real as it gets. Bills are drafted prior to the assembly with months of research and preparation. They go through a House Committee and then the House floor and the Senate Committee and Senate floor before being signed or vetoed by the GYA President.
 MCHS students had 26 out of the state’s 48 drafted bills reviewed by the nominal youth governor, and nine of 11 bills signed by the governor were drafted by students at MCHS.
Among the awards collected, Mauli Desaie was a co-recipient for “Outstanding Lobbyist,” Ben McMichael and Katherine Martin took home “Best Brief,” while Jessie Adams and Dylan Jaynes were declared the “Best Judicial Pair.” Adams also took home the title of “Best Orator.”
The “McCutchen Award,” which is given to the best debater in the House and Senate went to Laura Margaret Burbach and Jake Pendergraft. Ellen Wilson was elected Youth Governor for 2012.
Campbell Harrison, who took home an award for “Outstanding Bill,” said his piece of legislation, which proposed to legalize state funding of all types of stem cell research through grants, was one of the most debated bills.  
 “People’s view is that you have to kill a fetus. Well, that’s not true,” he said. “There doesn’t have to be any termination of a potential human body.”
Some of the other bills included extending compulsory education to 18 years and legalizing same-sex marriage.
Wilson said her favorite part of the weekend was debating with students around the state. “In Madison, because it’s such a small town, you don’t think of the bigger issues that affect other parts of the state,” she said.
“We try to impress upon them that it’s not all about the awards,” Malanowski said.  “It’s about the relationships they make. What I told them this year is that they were taking Madison to Atlanta. The feel that we have in Madison – the openness and the warmth that we feel in this community - we wanted to share with other people.”
 MCHS first attended GYA in 2005 with just enough students to fit in Malanowski’s car. This year, the school took two buses. “In the finals of the Judiciary, it was Morgan County against Morgan County,” said Malanowski, recognizing the impact of Sophomore Congress, a mock legislative team within the school. “They stand up in front of a crowd and express their position, and not just their opinion but generally a fact-based position. They have something to back it up. They find their voice.”
But something you won’t see the real-world Congress do is break out in non-partisan dance, an annual tradition for GYA. According to the “YA Record,” the official publication of GYA, “The dance floor held droves of hands clapping, romping, shaking, arms flailing and legs gyrating.” MCHS even stopped at the Metro Diner on the way back from the Capitol for karaoke.

Printed in the December 8, 2001 edition.