Youth and Government at the Dale Turner YMCA

By Erik Schmidt, Teen Coordinator

Dale Turner Family YMCA

I run a program at the Dale Turner YMCA in Shoreline called Youth and Government. This year our delegation took 21 students, grades 8 through 12, down to Olympia for a four-day student-led mock legislature program.

450 students from around the state joined up to run a simulated mock legislature program that has students in the roles of senators, representatives, press, lobbyists and other leadership positions. Every year students run for eight major officer positions and the winners will serve as student leaders for the next year of the program. 

This year we were fortunate enough to win two of the eight major positions from our Dale Turner Delegation that operates out of our Shoreline YMCA. 

Shorecrest junior Amelia Brown
Photo courtesy Dale Turner YMCA

Amelia Brown, a junior from Shorecrest High School, won the position of Editor-and-Chief of the Youth Legislature newspaper titled the Capital Chronicles.

Dino Nzanga, Jr.
Youth Governor

In addition, we also have the next Youth Governor, Dino Nzanga Jr, who is also a junior at Shorecrest High School. Dino will serve as the face of the program for the next year and will head to the Youth Governors Conference in Washington DC over the summer.

We also had an honor bestowed upon one of our 8th grade students from Kellogg Middle School. RJ Johnson won Page of the Year, which is the most prestigious award an 8th grade student can win.

I am extremely proud of all of our students who participated. We look to continue our success and growth into the next year.