MGA Roles - Delegates vs. Senators

MGA Roles - Delegates vs Senators

By: Ainsley McCabe - YMCA Arlington - Washington-Lee

Many students want to be heard and use these couple of days to voice their opinions on issues that they believe in. According to Inside Higher Ed, only 22% of the student body participates in class president elections (2018). These students feel that at their own school they are not being heard and decide to join Model General Assembly to voice their opinions.

As Model General Assembly is meeting over these next three days, it is important to understand the many different roles students can take on. Students can be lobbyists, reporters, or underclassmen legislators, but the two most popular roles students can take on are delegates and senators. These students propose their bills in committees at the State Capitol (pictured below) and proceed to try to pass their bill.

Delegates support bills that they believe should become laws. In an interview with Hunter Greene, a delegate from Brunswick Academy, he states that as high schoolers “[it is] when the [students] know the most about the government, so it would be better for them to vote at 17 then at 18.” Greene will continue to support his bill in later sessions.

         Senators have a very similar in which they present a bill and try to get it passed through the Senate. A student senator named Isaac Dragovich, from Faith Christian School, explained what he enjoys about coming to Model General Assembly, “I enjoy being able to see all the different people and their points of view and how willing people are to agree to disagree.” Dragovich will also continue to argue his bill later in the conference.

References:

Bauer-Wolf, Jeremy. “Study: Majority of Student Government Leaders Feel Influential    on Campus.” Inside Higher Ed, 21 Sept. 2018,  www.insidehighered.com/news/2018/09/21/study-majority-student-government  leaders-feel-influential-campus.