On December 4-6, sixteen students at Clinton County High School attended the Kentucky Youth Assembly (KYA), a three-day, experiential learning conference in which students participate directly in the Commonwealth’s democratic process. Acting as senators and Representatives, students write, debate, and vote on legislation that effects them. As candidates, lobbyists, or members of the media, students experience the rich spectrum of activity that makes up our political process. As advocates and justices, students argue and judge a legal case in the actual Kentucky Supreme Court chambers. Officers elected by students serve as Governor, Speaker of the House, President of the Senate, and are appointed to other conference leadership positions. The conference is held at the Crowne Plaza in Louisville, Kentucky. On the second day of each conference, students travel to Frankfort to debate in the Capitol and Old Capitol.

There were 52 students from across the state represented and more than 1600 delegates (students) in attendance. Our students participated in bill authorship and candidate election. The two bills written and presented by CCHS were “Mandating 20 hours of Community Service prior to graduation for all high school students” and “An act to mandate Pharmacy Technicians be certified through an accredited program.” State Representative Jeff Hoover paid a visit to CCHS on Wednesday, November 23 and talked with the students about the pros and cons of their bills and gave them suggestions to improve. His input was invaluable and so appreciated by the students – it was through a combined effort of the students and Mr. Hoover that the Pharmacy Tech bill passed committee and was presented and passed by both the Kentucky House and Senate. The bill was presented on the House and Senate floor at the State Capitol by the bill’s authors, Jordan Vincent, Lamon Hubbs, and Mariah Thompson.

In addition to the bills, two students ran for state office–the results of the elections, other than the top three, will not be announced until January. Those candidates were Bianca Soma, Premier and Kiley Hoppe, Legislative.

The students received the following awards: Delegation of Excellence; Outstanding Bill–Jordan Vincent, Lamon Hubbs, and Mariah Thompson; Outstanding Delegate–Kiley Hoppe; and the top award of the conference, “Outstanding Delegation.”

The students are sponsored by Melissa Tallent.

Pictured l-r: Front row: Sienna Staley, Mariah Thompson, Kiley Hoppe, Jordan Vincent, Jennifer Covey, Bianca Soma, Leah Claborn. Back row: Bun Gunter, Hailey Neal, Tiler Cross, Troy Butler, Emily Bertram, David Pierce. Not pictured: Dustin Daley and David Bowling.