By Youth Media Staff
Compiled by Precious Clanton (Cherokee County)
Welcome to the 2023 Youth Legislature Conference. We would like to introduce the conference leadership, starting with Gov. Camila Lopez.
In this issue of Tomorrow Today, , we also introduce Lt. Gov. Sarah Dewees, Speaker of the House Rylen Dempsey, First Year Presiding Officer Anna Beth Frazier and Supreme Court Chief Justice Rhea Rostogi. The goal of this year’s media is to inform you of what’s happening throughout the conference with truth and neutrality.
Gov. Camila Lopez and her Cabinet
By Aubree Sipsy (Cherokee County) and Ja’Mez T. Williams (BTW)
Camila Lopez is a senior at Spain Park High School. Her parents and her sister immigrated to Alabama from Colombia. She and her brother were born here. In her freshman year, now Gov. Lopez, was introduced to Youth in Government, a program she says has given her and many others a voice. Lt. Gov. Sarah Dewees says she has learned how to do things gracefully from Gov. Lopez. She describes our youth governor as a bright star from whom she has so much to learn, especially her positivity and ability to speak well.
Find a full list of the 2023 Cabinet
Meet Lt. Gov. Sarah Dewees and the other Senate officers
By Ja’Mez T. Williams (BTW Magnet High School, Montgomery)
Sarah Dewees, a senior at Vestavia Hills High School, wants to go into journalism. The Youth Legislature’s lieutenant governor says she is confident and trusts her interests and instincts; she never tries to be someone she knows she is not; she strives to be warmhearted, committed and honest. Lt. Gov. Dewees says this program will help shape her future, because it helps students create relationships that will last and allows them to see their opponent, not just as an opponent, but as a friend. Your lieutenant governor is prepared to meet new faces and form new relationships.
Find your place in the House says Speaker Rylen Dempsey
By Jordan Graves (JD High School, Montgomery)
When he first got involved in Alabama Youth in Government, Rylen Dempsey was working on a political campaign in New Hampshire and found out about the program through a newsletter at Vestavia Hills High School, where is now a senior. He tried Youth Judicial first and then found that “leg” was his place. We all have a political side that we don’t always show, he said. Speaker Dempsey hopes more people with that interest will have the chance to join Youth in Government to help the state and the world. He hopes the program will expand to all of Alabama and not just a few counties.
Anna Beth Frazier presides over First Year Chamber
By Precious Clanton (Cherokee County Delegation, Centre)
Anna Beth Frazier, a junior at Spain Park High School, is the First Year Presiding Officer. She was introduced to Youth in Government as a freshman by her sister. Anna Beth says that this program helped her find her voice and love for presiding.
Supreme Court reviews constitutionality
By Maddie Morgan (Cherokee County)
The Supreme Court of the Alabama Youth in Government program is a group of 11 students from various high schools who have found a shared interest in the legal field of the program. Their Chief Justice is Rhea Rastogi, a junior at LAMP in Montgomery, who explains that the justices are more interested in the legal side of the government, so they became members of the Supreme Court. She said they prepared for the mock trials in Youth Judicial by reviewing what they and others would be objecting to and that they would prepare to do this in reviewing the constitutionality of the bills the Supreme Court will be needed to evaluate at Youth Leg.
Media teams’ wish for ALYIG participants
We hope this year’s conference will be full of memories and that you make lifelong friends. As House Speaker Dempsey reminds us, “This is an opportunity to connect with other students who are politically minded. … They may not have the same political beliefs, but they believe in discourse.” You can find middle ground with this conference by just getting to know one another, adds Lt. Gov. Dewees.
This article also appeared in the
Friday, Feb. 24, 2023, TomorrowTODAY Edition