Students taking part in Junior State

While Super Tuesday may be over and the results continue to be analyzed, the debates are just beginning for hundreds of high school students who are participating in a political congress at the Coeur d’Alene Resort today and Sunday.

The Junior State of America is holding its Pacific Northwest 2008 Congress in Coeur d’Alene – just one of several Junior State conferences that will be held throughout the country this weekend. Over the course of the two-day event, students will draft legislation, serve on a congressional committee, participate in debates and vote in floor sessions of the House and Senate.

“The Junior Statesmen introduces kids to politics and government,” said John Keating, the student adviser for the Junior Statesmen Club of Lakeland High School in Rathdrum.

Five of the six members of Lakeland’s team will participate in this weekend’s congress; and according to Keating, they have been busy researching and writing their bill and preparing to argue their positions from the floor along with other high school students from as far away as Seattle.

According to Lacy Nelson, who works in the sales department at the Coeur d’Alene Resort, they are expecting approximately 300 students for the weekend conference.

The goal of the Junior Statesmen Foundation is to encourage high school students to participate in political dialogue. While it strives to teach important leadership skills, the program does so in a political environment where opposing views are the norm rather than the exception.

Because the topics of debate bring opposing — and often passionate – viewpoints, the leaders of the Junior Statesmen program stress the importance of respecting opposing positions while still challenging one another to think critically.

Prior to the conference each school must divide its delegation into teams of three to five people. Each team researches a federal issue and selects team members who will serve as either the senator or the representative who will sponsor that particular piece of legislation.

For their bill, the Lakeland team drafted a piece of legislation that supports an increase in gun control.

“The kids did not mean it as a joke,” said Keating, “but they thought it was pretty hilarious to be from Idaho and have that issue as their legislation.”

Keating said the students researched the issue and found statistics to support their position. They talk about a society where gun-related deaths are on the rise and propose solutions such as trigger locks on every gun and having a unit on gun safety in health classes in the schools.

“They hammered this out themselves,” said Keating who adds that Junior Statesmen is a student run organization. He said he is simply an adviser and not a leader.

The students submit their legislation prior to the conference and receive other teams’ legislation as well. They meet as a group and decide which pieces they should support and which ones they will oppose.

Some of the issues that will be addressed by students from throughout the Northwest this weekend will include laws aimed at stopping the spread of sexually transmitted diseases, decreasing the number of teen pregnancies, issues of same sex marriage and obtaining more funding for the U.S. Diplomatic Corps.

“There are some obvious issues that kids of this age are interested in,” said Keating.

One premise of Junior Statesmen is that the students must be respectful when challenging opposing views and advocating for their own position. Keating said he teaches the students that everyone in their heartfelt beliefs has value and they deserve to be treated with respect.

One way this is accomplished, he said, is by following Roberts Rules of Order.

“They are required to use Parliamentary Procedure,” said Keating.

Keating equates participation in the congress with that of being in a play. An actor rehearses their lines, and they are finally able to show the fruits of their labor when it is time to perform.

“The number one thing is that kids have the opportunity to write and to be a part of the legislative process,” said Keating.