USN students leave state government better than they found it at Youth In Government

USN students participated in the 73rd Youth In Government conference at the Tennessee State Capitol and neighboring buildings in downtown Nashville. Several students brought home awards, and the entire group did a fantastic job representing USN.
By Mackey Luffman, Youth In Government Advisor 

USN High Schoolers have been attending the Youth In Government (YIG) conference, sponsored by the YMCA of Middle Tennessee’s Center for Civic Engagement, for decades now. Across the years, our students acted as legislators, drafting, debating, and enacting legislation; they acted as lawyers in appellate cases before the State Supreme Court; they acted as lobbyists, researching legislation and campaigning among legislators to promote agendas; a select few students served as state administrators in the Governor’s Cabinet, proposing and debating policies and legislation to support those policies; others served in the news media, reporting and documenting on the legislation and policies being pursued by their classmates. This past weekend, 61 USN students participated in the 73rd YIG conference in the State Capitol and neighboring buildings in downtown Nashville! 

USN had already provided some of the leadership for this year's conference! Last year’s students elected Binyam Dunne ‘26 to be the Floor Leader of the Blue (Novice) House of Representatives, Laila Fierce ‘27 to be Floor Leader of the White House of Representatives, and Caroline Stinner ‘27 to be Floor Leader of the Red (Senior) House of Representatives. So far so good! 

USN delegates came right out of the gate with high committee rankings for their legislation, including Dunne’s top-ranked bill to amend the Tennessee constitution to institute an income tax to provide direct funding for Medicaid in the state. Other USN student bills appeared near the top of their chamber dockets and started their way through the legislative process! 

Some USN Bills were honored with Outstanding Bill Awards! Eli Shuster ‘28 and Ishaan Nachnani ‘28 won an award for their bill to require financial literacy programs in public middle schools; Greta Molvig ‘28 and Penny Borinstein ‘28 won an award for their bill to ban legislators from controlling PACs, and Julia Young ‘27 and Louisa Nordberg ‘27 won an award for their bill to expand emergency protection orders to include the seizure of firearms. 

USN Delegates also led from the front with their participation in debates in the legislature. Earning Outstanding Statesperson Awards were: Veer Kodali ‘29, Kostas Rokas ‘29, Krish Nachnani ‘28, Anand Sherman ‘29, Greta Molvig ‘28, Bridget Beem ‘27, Ruchika Ramachandran ‘27, Jack Fruin ‘27, Caden Carrabba ‘27, and Kate Disher ‘28.

USN is on a roll with providing conference leadership, as three USN students will serve as elected officers in next year’s conference. Laila was elected to be Lieutenant Governor of the Red Senate; Caroline Stinner was elected to be Speaker of the Blue House, and Greta Molvig was elected to succeed Binyam Dunne as Floor Leader of the Blue House!

Greta also joins an elite club among USN students, since she hit the “conference trifecta”: winning an Outstanding Bill Award, an Outstanding Statesperson Award, and an election for office! 

Other election winners in other components of the conference include Spencer Rogers ‘27 as Associate Justice of the State Supreme Court; Griffin Rogers ‘27 as Attorney General, and Charlie Hall ‘27 as Video Editor for the Press/Media Corps. 

Last, and most definitely not least, Binyam Dunne and Laila Fierce were selected to serve on the Tennessee delegation to the Conference on National Affairs (CONA) this summer. This means they are all-state delegates chosen by the conference staff to represent the state program at a simulation of our national government. It’s the highest honor bestowed by the program, and they follow in the footsteps of other YIG alums like Ophelia Cherry-Pulay ‘25, Erin Joyce ‘25, Henry Gatto ‘25, Riya Narayan ‘23, Arnav Reddy ‘22, and Lydia West ‘21 with this selection. 

We give a special word of thanks to faculty and staff colleagues Juliet Douglas, Holly Poff, Kate Sullivan, and Anne Dervan for giving time to help me chaperone the conference.

Please congratulate these students when you see them! 
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