Underclassmen Legislature: The Staff Experience By: Rebecca Burton

Model General Assembly is a well regulated machine. From a student’s perspective, the program seems seamless running on time and in an efficient way.  The staff is a vital part of the program as they help guide the students. The Underclassmen Legislature is a program that gives younger students a glimpse into the structure of MGA. The UL is made educational and fun by the college staffers. They keep the students engaged and excited as they work through practice bill writing and debating. This year there are three college staffers assigned to the UL, Colt Gordon, Joey HIldebrandt, and Caroline Greenhalgh. These three are very passionate about MGA and are sharing their love for the program with the students.

Colt Gordon, a first year college staffer, was never a member of the Underclassmen Legislature, having started MGA being directly on the floor. Not having the introduction from the UL made the whole MGA experience intimidating to Colt. He loves the UL program because it helps the students wrap their minds around what really happens in MGA. The staff of the UL helps shape the debate and enable higher level debates and thoughts. COlt sais that the first day the students were not as interested because of the amount of speeches, but after the debates and workshops the students really started to break out of their shells and get confident with what they were doing.

Joey Hildebrandt tries to work with the students face to face as much as he can, giving him a chance to help make the program better. He wants the students to enjoy the program even if the speeches are not the most exciting thing they do, but it is an important part of the program. The student, with the bill writing and debating, are becoming more active and interested in the whole of MGA. The bill writing gave them a chance to come up with ideas for bills and them present them. The student kept coming up with great ideas and getting more and more involved in the UL. The students were getting to discuss things that they are interested in and are important to our state and country. The UL leads the students to maybe even find a passion for legislation.

Caroline Greenhalgh helped lead the students in creating their own bills and debating them. The students also toured the Capital that day. The UL is beneficial for someone starting MGA  by giving them a ntro into the different positions of MGA. The program mostly focuses on the position of the delegate or senator. Caroline said that someone who is new to speaking out can learn to have their voice with the UL. Caroline attended the UL herself when she first started at MGA. Being a part of the staff, she has seen the UL change since she was apart of it herself in many ways and knows it will just keep getting better and better.