Excitement fills the air as students enter the basketball gym inside of the YMCA of Concord. They sit down in groups of about ten people around tables. Papers, candy, and books cover the long gray foldout tables. Youth Governor Noah Babin, senior at Goffstown High School, delivers a speech.

Goffstown High School students involved in Speech & Debate Club went on a field trip to learn about Youth & Government. Organized by the YMCA, the trip occurred on Friday, November 7.  They learned about the Youth & Government program, parliamentary procedure, and bill writing.

Freshman Siobhan McGarty enjoyed “learning about the different positions of government and what they do.”

The newer and older members of Youth & Government were divided by a curtain that split the gym. They listened to speeches and practiced writing a bill. Lawyers, government officials, and YMCA staff made speeches about the bill writing process. Babin made a speech about his bill writing journey. According to Samuel Obrien, the staff advisor for Speech & Debate, the goal of the trip was for students to learn about the Youth & Government program.

McGarty says “It was fun and I learned a lot and I enjoyed meeting new people I might not have met otherwise.”

During usual Speech & Debate meetings, students pull cases and talk about them as well as learn about ethics and/or bill writing. According to senior Evelynn Anderson, they come together to look at a prompt and discuss what they think is the answer.

On a typical Monday afternoon, club members walk into room 213. They move the desks into a circular shape and talk to their friends. Babin passes around a case. The meeting begins. The students first read the case. They then discuss until they come to an agreement. 

Anderson says it is “a club for a whole bunch of people to get together” and “come to a moral consensus” with the cases.