My experience at Spring State

Spring State is the last of all three state conventions every school year, the others being Fall State and Winter Congress. Just as Fall State and Winter Congress have their own special focus, so does Spring State. Spring state’s main focus is on the elections of officials for next year. Every year there is an election, with terms taking effect and ending on June 1st, the last day of school.

Arrival and Debate Block One:
Mrs. Boyajian and Mrs. Ryder convened at Charlie Browns and drove up Jessi Young, Nathan Taylor, Peter Boyajian, Naomi Ryder, Daniel Margulis and I to Parsippany where the convention was being held. We arrived at the hotel at approximately 10:00, just in time to attend the opening session without missing anything. During the opening session, each member of cabinet spoke and shared their progress and plans for the convention. After each member spoke, as well as a message from our Lieutenant Governor, the candidates were brought up to stage for each position respectively, followed by open nominations for each position.
After each position was reviewed, and open nominations were held, the Governor dismissed everyone to attend debate block one. Most of our chapter attended the debate in which I spoke, however Peter and Nathan had to attend a Presidents meeting. The rest of the chapter in attendance proceeded to the Madison room, where my debate was being held. The debate was: resolved, that religious institutions that refuse to recognize homosexual marriages be stripped of tax-exempt status. I argued con. My main con argument went well, although I didn’t deliver it as well as I did the last meeting, but still, it was very good. After the pro and con subsequent speakers and closings, we voted on the resolution. The final outcome was 21 for, 24 against, and 3 abstentions, therefore failing. After the debate was finished we met up with Peter and Nathan and decided what we were doing for lunch.

Lunch and Debate Block two:
For lunch we decided on Fuddruckers, which was sponsoring JSA for 50% of the profit made on each meal ordered from a JSA member would go to the micro financing organization KIVA. After enjoying an amazing meal, we returned to the hotel in time for debate block two. Instead of watching a debate, we went to the KIVA simulation. According to JSA, 99.9% of all loans dealt by KIVA return to the organization, so JSA did a simulation to see how much money would come back to them after several rolls of a die (which is the closest approximation they could get to 99.9%). One of the candidates for Vice Mayor, Parth Parikh, was helping run the simulation and decided to make two teams, with each member buying in at two dollars, and all proceeds going to KIVA. The teams were, the bunny crusaders, consisting of Nate, Peter and I, along with four other kids from anther chapter, against team batman, which consisted of Mrs. Boyajian, Mrs. Ryder, Naomi, Daniel, Jessi, Chelsea Frankel, and Parth. For the first couple rounds of rolling, we were ahead by a couple dollars, however after a bad round, the bunny crusaders fell behind by about six dollars. It was at this point that one of the kids from the other chapter pulled out a twenty dollar bill and put it in our pile of money, therefore putting us ahead by about fifteen dollars. As we continued, the risk became bigger, and then finally, we came to the last two rounds, both wager rounds. After one round, the minimum wager doubled, and the bunny crusaders eventually won by almost twenty dollars. Instead of the promised all you can eat ice cream, whipped cream was handed out as a prize.

Debate Block Three:
After the simulation ended, we convened in the hallway and decided to attend a debate regarding car company bail outs. The specific resolution was, resolved, that the federal government allow American auto-manufacturers to go bankrupt. Unfortunately, the main con speaker wasn’t present, so a student from the audience volunteered. The pro argued that the government was wasting money by bailing these car companies out, because, if they were to become bankrupt, they could “start over” with some new amount of money that was not specified where it came from. The con argued that the car companies should not be allowed to become bankrupt because their remnants would be auctioned off to other car companies. Because there are no major American car companies with the money to buy the remnants of any large car company such as GM, the con argued that American car companies would be completely bought out by foreign car companies. After one round of subsequent speakers, then closings, a vote was taken on the resolution and it failed with the final tally being, 18 against, 9 for, and 2 abstentions.

Entertainment and Nightlife Block:
After the last debate, we all went to the main ballroom with all the other chapters to hear from our Governor and Lt. Governor for some announcements. After a few announcements, the room keys were distributed, and, after changing, most everyone else at the convention went to the mall for dinner. Our chapter, being one of the few that went to Fuddruckers for lunch decided not to eat so soon as we were all still full from lunch there. We all decided to change and enjoy a walk around the hotel and some fresh air. Upon coming back to the hotel, we decided to go to the pool for a little bit while the majority of other JSA members were still at the mall eating. Peter, Nathan and I all went to the pool, while others watch, walked around the hotel, or talked about the day.
After going back to our rooms and ordering Chinese food, Peter, Nathan, Daniel and I all attended the Master Debator activity, while Naomi and Jessi attended the Candidates Idol in the main ballroom, where each candidate sings a song of his/her choice, or can also sing with his other candidates running for that position. Master debator is a fun JSA pastime where the moderator/s decides on a ridiculous and/or comic resolution, and the debaters have to argue their assigned side. After going through some offending resolutions at first, the moderator decided on some more suitable resolutions, and all of us got a chance to debate once. After eating dinner, we all decided to change and attend the dance. The dance was enjoyable to everyone until the affects of the music began to sink in... Daniel Margulis and I decided to head back to the room and find something else to do. After about an hour of surfing the internet, Nate, Peter, Jessi and Naomi all returned from the dance. Everyone was fairly tired out, and curfew had just been taken into affect, so we each went to our own rooms to spend the night.

Elections and Debate Block Four:
After waking up and eating a pre-packed breakfast, all JSA members attended the first election session, regional elections. Each chapter was assigned in alphabetical order, and was handed index cards to place individual ballots, then after all the ballots have been counted, the chapter president would announce the tally of votes for his/her chapter. This process was repeated for each new position, and finally we were dismissed after the Mayoral and Vice-Mayoral positions were filled.
Both Peter and Daniel were both speaking in the fourth debate block, so we decided to split up and meet back at the ballroom for state elections. Jessi, Mrs. Ryder, and I all went to Daniel’s debate, while Naomi, Mrs. Boyajian, and Nathan attended Peter’s debate. Daniel’s debate was, resolved that the United States establish normal diplomatic relations with Iran. The pro argued that we should establish the relations with Iran because of the economic benefits that would result from it; however he did not touch on the point of whether it was safe or possible. Daniel argued that the Iranians are harboring terrorists; therefore it is not safe to establish diplomatic relations with them. He also outlined some of Iran’s previous encounters with Israel’s ceasefire and other instances in which similar cases happened. Because they were pressed for time, they could not do any subsequent speakers, and a vote was taken. The resolution passed by a large amount of votes, due to the large amount of people from the pro speaker’s school.
After the debate ended, we all convened at the ballroom for the last set of elections and closing session. We followed the same procedure as before while voting for the positions of Lieutenant Governor and Governor. After each candidate was elected for the two positions, the closing session began. During closing session the best speaker gavels were handed out to the winners, and winner for chapter challenge was announced. After reminiscence from each of the seniors, Spring State was officially adjourned by the Governor.