CONA, otherwise known as Conference on National Affairs, is MGA on a national level. CONA is a weeklong conference held in Black Mountain, North Carolina, in the Blue Ridge Mountains at the YMCA Blue Ridge Assembly. Students who possess excellent rhetorical skills and exercise courtesy on the debate floor receive this honor. Traditionally, ten to twenty high school students are selected for these positions and are given the task of bringing current national issues to the debate floor. According to Alumni Stacey Reibold, at MGA, state bills are being debated whereas at CONA, proposals that are enacted on a national level are debated and sometimes passed into legislation. This pushes students to think outside the box, knowing that not only a state is being impacted, but a nation as well.
According to Reibold, the most valuable aspect of CONA is that “there is an entirely different crowd outside of what you deal with every day in the state of Virginia…so when a bill is presented you are considering a different range of people who may hold a different perspective than you.” Reibold maintains that “the interaction between different people from around the United States and the perspectives or stances taken on different issues” is what makes CONA so special.
So, how can YOU attend CONA? First, let an advisor know that you are able to come to CONA or at least have an interest in attending. Then, a committee in charge of scouting out individuals for CONA meets and discusses which students have demonstrated admirable rhetorical skills in a manner that respects the opinions of others during MGA. The committee is also looking for delegates who put their whole hearts into encouraging and promoting debate on the floor. These individuals, based on their overall merit, are then selected for the honor of attending CONA.
No comments:
Post a Comment