On February 13-16, the YMCA hosted the 33rd Annual North Carolina YMCA Youth & Government Conference. With the support of an amazing team of staff members as well as volunteers, students from across the state gathered to debate bills, take part in mock trials, create content and news updates and elect next year’s Youth & Government Officials. Here’s a look at this year’s conference, by the numbers:
- 1,000: Student delegates, advisors and staff from 22 NC counties and 100 municipalities took part in this year’s conference
- 40: Delegations from across the state; These delegations from high schools and YMCAs around North Carolina spend the year developing their bills and learning about the democratic process before attending conference.
- 100: Participants at our first ever legislative social. State and Local officials from across the state, including Lt. Governor Rachel Hunt and Raleigh Mayor Janet Cowell, attended a Legislative Social where they heard about the program, and got a tour from our student delegates to see it first-hand.
- 160: Scholarships provided to delegates in a continued effort to make sure more students from across the state can experience the Youth & Government Program.
- 12: Mock trial cases heard throughout the weekend. Forty-eight delegates took part in these trials as prosecutors, defense attorneys, plaintiffs, defendants, witnesses and other roles.
- 94: Court of Appeals cases heard throughout the weekend by nearly 50 student delegates
- 211: Bills written, submitted and debated by student delegates in the House and Senate throughout the weekend
- 27: Bills signed into law by the student governor and his cabinet
- 6: Guest Speakers including Governor Josh Stein, State Representative Wyatt Gable, Kinston City Councilman Chris Suggs, Abby Rogers, Y-USA Chief Development Officer, NC State Chief Justice Newby, and Dr. Terrance Ruth, Raleigh mayoral candidate.
- 7: Promotional and recap videos shot, edited and premiered by the Student Media Team over the weekend. WATCH NOW
- 18: Blog post articles written, published and shared on social media from the print media team
- 100: posts to the Youth & Government social media channels
- 500: New social media followers to the @ncyouthandgov Instagram account
- 1,000: Photos taken by student photographers on the media team to highlight the event
Thanks to everyone who supported the program, visited and made this great weekend possible!
