Junior State of America
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Wikipedia-Article "Junior State of America"
The Junior State of America, also known as Junior Statesmen of America and JSA, is the largest student-run organization in the United States. It provides a politics-oriented environment for high school students to go. The organization has had a total of 300,000 members since it began in 1934, and has chapters in many American high schools, which engage in politics at the grass roots level and encourage political awareness on their campuses. As of the 2005-2006 school year, JSA is the nation's largest student-run organization. Parliamentary procedure is used much of the time (during debates, cabinet meetings, etc.), per Robert's Rules of Order.
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Conventions
Conventions are arguably the most popular events the Junior State holds. Here, students may participate in an array of debates, as well as other activities, such as mock trials and "thought talks".
State conventions
Students gather at different overnight conferences across the country three times a year: Fall State, Winter Congress, and Spring State.
Fall State and Spring State
Fall State and Spring State are similar in that they consist solely of debates, thought talks, and special activities. Spring State, however, is largely composed of the election process. All of the State and Regional positions are elected at Spring State in intense elections.
Winter Congress
Winter Congress is structured more like an actual Congress: students are divided into Senates and Houses of Representatives. Each student then goes to their assigned house and passes or vetoes bills, depending on how well the debaters do and what the students feel should happen. These are run entirely by a body of student-elected officials (normally the Governor and Lieutenant Governor), as well as an appointed cabinet. In some of the Winter Congresses students join political parties which have platforms on all of the bills up for debate.
Regional conventions
There are also smaller, regional conferences and "minicons" which occur closer to home on a smaller, inter-school level. These are also entirely student-run.
Elected positions
The Junior State is, again, completely student-run. For this reason, the members elect officials. Elections occur each year at the Spring State convention and are major events. Candidates often go all-out and do whatever it takes to win votes.
State level
Governor
The position of governor is the highest (and, arguably, the most important) position in the Junior State. The governor has the important job of appointing a cabinet that gets much specialized work done at the JSA state level. Each state governor represents his/her Junior State on the national Council of Governors (CoG), which meets three times per year.
Lieutenant Governor
The Lieutenant Governor is, as the name would suggest, second-in-command to the Governor. He/she also runs the Fair Elections Committee (FEC). In some states the Lieutenant Governor is also in charge of the Senate.
Speaker
The position of speaker exists only in the states of Northern California, Southern California, and Texas. The Speaker presides over the State Assembly. In other states, that job defaults to the Lieutenant Governor.
Regional level
Mayor
The Mayor leads the region as the Governor leads the state. He/She is responsible for the well-being of his/her region, as well as planning and executing the one-day conferences.
Vice Mayor
This officer assists the Mayor, and takes his/her place in case of absence or resignation. A primary role of the Vice Mayor is to keep up on the status of all chapters within the region, and make sure the Chapter Presidents have everything they need to succeed.
Senator
The regions each elect a certain number of senators, depending on the state. These work under their regional mayors as well as the state Lt. Governor and represent their regions on the state level. Once again, not all regions do this.
State Assembly Representative
In some regions this is the equivalent to the Senator position.
Council of Governors
In keeping with the nation-wide nature of the organization, there is a Council of Governors (CoG) that meets three times over the course of the year to discuss issues within the Junior State. CoG determines the national themes of Fall State and Spring State, as well as the fall and spring overnight state conferences. They also draft a list of debate and thought talk topics to be included in the nationally distributed brochures.
A working list of the current set of governors can be found on the national website.
List of states and territories
- Pacific Northwest
- Northern California
- Southern California
- Midwest Territory
- Ohio River Valley Territory
- Texas
- Northeast
- Mid-Atlantic
Watchung Hills chapter along with its sister chapter of Marlboro were crucical in keeping the state
going during a popularity lul from 2000-2005. The chapter from Freehold Township is often considered
to be overly powerfull and conspiratory and there have been numerous inqusitions into their workings.
- Southeast Region