"Democracy Must Be Learned By Each Generation"

43 students have been chosen to represent Legg Middle School at the Youth In Government (YIG) Conference this November 22-24. YIG is a program sponsored by the State YMCA for all middle school students 6th through 8th Grade. The program targets teaching leadership skills, civic engagement, and the values of democracy in the democratic process to thousands of students nationwide. Students will have a unique opportunity to conduct legislative sessions at the House and Senate Chambers in the State Capitol Building, will have the experience of developing a compromised solution to an important issue facing Michigan, or will experience a pre-law program as a debate team at the Supreme Court and Cooley Law School.

Legislative Program

Students conduct legislative sessions at the House and Senate Chambers in the State Capitol in Lansing. Bills for the Youth in Government Legislature are prepared by the youth for this state law-making experience. Each youth legislator is required to write and present a legislative bill on a state issue. The program’s goal is to develop a dedication to the values of democracy and leadership in the democratic process. Legislators are expected to be well-versed in the pros and cons of the legislation they will consider, so that they can exercise their vote in an intelligent and far-sighted manner. Legislators need to be familiar with basic parliamentary procedure, committee procedure, and the rules of the Model Legislature. They should practice speaking before their delegation and should be proficient in answering questions on the bills they have written. In committee, legislators debate, amend, pass and defeat legislation dealing with the bills assigned to their committee.

Contemporary Issues Program (Debate)

Contemporary Issues uses a standard debate format between four-member teams. At the conference, students work with Cooley Law students as well as members of the legal community. Standard Debate is a type of formal argumentation in which a team of two affirmative debaters answers a formally worded question and a team of two negative debaters argue the other side of the question.

The 2015 debate question is: Resolved: Michigan should place a complete ban on hydraulic fracturing (fracking).

Political Compromise Program

Democracy allows every citizen to have an equal voice and vote, but policy is determined by political discussion and compromise. The program's objective is to provide students a framework that requires cooperation and compromise to create a single policy based on a current state or national topic.

2015: Should Michigan allow hydraulic fracturing (fracking)?

Special Interest Groups:

• Coalition for Natural Gas (CNG)
• Save our Environment (SOE)
• EnTech

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