Lansing, with Teens

What's up, America.

So, as I told you guys last year, Yours Truly is one of the co-leaders for our school's Michigan Youth in Government (MYIG) programs.  This organization introduces students across the state to Parliamentary Procedure (the manner in which legislatures 'perform,' for lack of better term, on the floors of the House of Representatives and Senate), the process of creating, debating, and amending bills, sitting on different committees, and campaigning.  It's a great and incredibly thorough introduction to politics for young minds, and for a History Teacher it's pretty badass to be able to give kids the opportunity to experience how our political system works.

Hot Wheels

MYIG has two conferences in the fall, with the latter being designated for middle schools.  Our school participated in this one, yet again, and so on Sunday myself and Wincent (the group leader) met up with our 26 students at the school to board our charter bus (a rented school bus - 'cause we're frugal) and departed for Lansing.  What followed was a three-day, two-night conference, where students got to push various pieces of legislation through several committees and hearings, and got to debate different bills on the floor of the State Senate in the State Capitol.

It sure as hell beat being stuck at work.

So check it out, Internet - the 2019 Michigan Youth in Government Conference.  (Once again I omitted most of the pics I took on this trip, as they featured other folks' kids, and that's a big no-no with FERPA. . .)

Some handsome guy, overseeing the settlement of his delegation at the big Welcome Conference. . .

Once again, Yours Truly lucked out with the room situation:  I had a full-size, spacious, deluxe room all to myself, with a king-size bed, extra furniture, etc.

Even came with a fridge - love it when that happens.

Booya.

Wincent, on the other hand, had a designated handicapped room:  a gigantic bathroom - with all the handicapped-assisting hand-bars and a zero-entry bathtub - that took up nearly all of the hotel room.  As a result, he was stuck with a queen-sized bed. . . poor guy.

That first night of the Conference, we more or less checked in, got our kids settled into their hotel rooms (four to a room), came downstairs for a Welcome dinner (and series of long-winded speeches), then proceeded into the 'election' process of the annual event.  Students from the various delegations across the state can run for Lt. Governor, Speaker of the House, etc. of the make-believe legislature, and in doing socreate tri-fold boards highlighting their personal achievements outside of MYIG.  There's also a fair amount of bribery on hand throughout this cutthroat campaigning portion of the evening - free candy, free wristbands, you name it - that kids hawk out to other delegations in order to secure their votes.  One of our very own eighth graders actually won one of the Lt. Governor positions this year, which was pretty awesome. 

After an evening filled with speeches, committee hearings, bill debating, and lots and lots of parliamentary procedure, the kids shuffled off back to their rooms and settled in for the night.  In the morning, Wincent and I had to cook up breakfast for 26 hungry teenagers.  Last year, we bought boxes of cereals and some fruit - this year, we brought two griddles (mine and Ms. Bryant's, my science teacher) and a crap-load of pancake mix and syrup, along with fruit, to feed the masses.  Unfortunately, Wincent bought the kind of mix that you need egg, milk and oil for. . . and all we had was hotel room tap water to mix it with.

At first, we had both griddles running in my room (shown here), but after a few minutes of frying up breakfast, we blew the circuit in the room and tripped the breaker - all the power in the room went out and we were terrified to find ourselves cooking up pancakes in pitch blackness.  While Wincent called the front desk and reported the power outage, I plugged one of the griddles into one of our students' rooms and the other into the hotel hallway. . .

Whatever it takes, folks.  Whatever it takes.

Hordes of teenagers await shuttle buses to take them over to the State Capitol for a day of debating, compromising, and delegating.

Back in the Capitol's Rotunda.  Pretty cool room, if you ask me.

I was pretty stoked that I got to use the same bathroom as our state senators during a legislative session on the floor of the Senate. . .

Teenagers, hard at work. . .

As if I wasn't going to take a ridiculous amount of pictures of the State Capitol while I was here.  Pssshh. . .

I doubt the defensive capabilities of this field piece positioned right here in front of the Capitol.  What are we aiming at here, fellas?

. . . .oh, this not-at-all-menacing office building.  Carry on then, 18th century cannon.

Breaking for lunch, half-way through the day (where I got to escort groups of our teenagers throughout downtown Lansing so they could buy themselves something to eat at one of the area's various restaurants.)

Hey, look - it's this guy.

Meanwhile, back on the floor of the Senate. . .

Another shot of the Rotunda. . .

Like last year, we had to hold several committee meetings across the street in the Capitol in the Senate Building. . .

Around 5pm-ish, the last of the charter buses prepared to take the remaining delegations back to the hotel for dinner and an evening of debriefing sessions. . .

Some random dude, commemorating Michigan's involvement in the practically-unknown Spanish American War.

Waiting to board. . .

A couple more gratuitous pics of the State Capitol, all lit up for the evening. . .

Old guy selfie, in front of a famous building. . .

The Christmas Tree in front of the Capitol.  By this point in time, myself and about a dozen or so students from various state delegations were still waiting for a rescue bus to take us back to the hotel.  We were the last batch to leave the Capitol area. . . of course.

Catching up on current events while waiting for dinner. . .

The next morning, Wincent and I prepared for one, last breakfast with our students.  This time around, we knew what we were doing, having learned some valuable lessons the first time around. . .

. . . I like to think we did a pretty bang-up job with this whole feeding-26-teenagers thing, to be honest. 

On the way back to our school, at the close of yet another MYIG conference, we once again stopped off at this cafeteria Wincent knew about on MSU's campus, where you pay a $10 cover and you can eat as much as you want at about two-dozen eateries.  It's pretty awesome, but thank God we don't have anything like this anywhere near Midland, 'cause if they did I'd for sure weight about 400 lbs. . .

- Brian