Many of us have programs in high school and middle school that have changed our lives. Many of these programs have helped us find our true passions and have shown us who we are meant to be. For me, the Youth and Government program has shown me who I am meant to be.

Let me start off by explaining what the Youth and Government, also known as YG, program is. YG is a program in which kids are taught the importance of the Legislative process, Judicial branch, the media sector, or even mock Model UN.

Anyone from as young as sixth grade up to 12th grade can participate in the program, and they will have the opportunity to go use the Capitol for the state conference. The legislative branch in most states will even have the opportunity to use the real House and Senate floors that the representatives use, the judicial team will use the courtrooms, and the media team will report on all of the events. It is a life-changing experience that teaches youth the importance of democracy.

For me, this program started off in the 6th grade. When I came in, I was doing it because my mom was forcing me to do a public speaking program for a year. When I was done at the state conference that year, I knew that I would have to stay in it, and seven years later I graduated from the program a student with a new view of the world. In my time in the program, I was incredibly involved.

I was president of my school's program for three years, and I was an attendee of the Conference On National Affairs for all four years of high school. My junior year I was elected Lieutenant Governor of the Texas Program and served into my senior year, and I have an advisor the Junior YG program for five years now. By far the most moving part of my experience has been in my time as an advisor for the Junior YG program.

The Junior YG program is incredibly impressive due to the fact eleven-year-olds will speak on the House and Senate floors on pressing issues facing our society like police brutality and equal pay. These kids use real sources to back up their proponent and opponent statements, debate respectfully with other kids their age, and make friends while debating that they will have for a lifetime. I have seen many impressive eleven-year-olds, and every time I hear them speak I regain hope. I regain hope for elimination of hatred in the world. I regain hope for the wellbeing of our planet. I regain hope for the future.

Ever since I have left I have missed this program because it wasn’t just a program, it was a family. I have made so many friends that have become family through this program, and I have met so many impressive people. A few weeks ago they had their state conference, and it was the first one I have not attended in four years. The entire weekend I was missing the kids I had mentored, and I was wishing I could be in Austin supporting them.

As I was watching the closing ceremony, one of my close friends was giving his closing speech as governor. He began thanking everyone around him who got him to that point, and suddenly I hear my name. He thanked me for something I had told him three years prior. He recalled back to a moment when we were in Charlotte, North Carolina at the Conference on National Affairs when I said to him that he had a voice and that he mattered. I was beyond honored that what I had said had stuck with him that long. The words I had said had changed his life, and the words he told changed mine, and that is precisely the goal of the program.

So to the Youth and Government program Thank you. Thank you for teaching kids real-world issues. Thank you for allowing me to make a difference in other people's lives. Thank you for making me a better person and changing my life.