Exchanges and First Time Chances at MGA

Exchanges and First Time Chances at MGA

By Sara Oyler – Faith Christian School

Pedro Pereira is an exchange student from Brazil. He currently attends Faith Christian School in Roanoke. To Pedro, MGA is a fairly new concept because the general function of the United States government is new to him. However, in Brazil, he attended a similar event to MGA except on a national level. While deciding on a club to join, he decided to join Hi-Y, which ultimately lead to his participation in MGA. He chose this club in order to improve his public speaking ability, specifically in a second language. 

During his time at MGA, Pedro has come to love several aspects of the conference. He loves the people because everyone at MGA has received him well. He has enjoyed learning with and getting to know more people from Virginia, but Pedro claims that his favorite part was the house chambers. He enjoyed the “feeling of sitting in the chair of someone who makes Virginia better.” He has expressed gratefulness towards his “life changing” MGA experience and would definitely recommend it to other exchange students.

Pedro is walking away from MGA with skills he plans to apply to his life in the future. He has learned that many unexpected things can happen, but fear is only a hinderance. He advises his peers to “take every chance because [they] never know when [they are] going to get a similar experience.” To those planning to attend MGA in the future, Pedro suggests that they be themselves but be open. Opportunities come to those who are willing to accept them. Pedro is leaving MGA with calmer nerves and confidence in speaking English as a second language because he took a chance and accepted this opportunity.

What’s Happening and What’s to Come: Discussing Physician Assisted Suicide

What’s Happening and What’s to Come: Discussing Physician Assisted Suicide 

By: Jason Marshall - Eastside High School 

The 2019 season of the Model General Assembly has brought with it many new and exciting bills. Some of these legislative pieces aim high, one bill attempted to legalize recreational marijuana in the state of Virginia, or some as simple as raising the age required to operate a personal watercraft from sixteen to eighteen. Although every bill is important, there are always some bills that get majority of the publicity as a result of their controversial topics. One of this year’s highly controversial bills is Old Dominion Senate Bill NO. 71, a bill implementing a system allowing and regulating physician assisted suicide. 

This bill has had some heavy debate and has been met with a plethora of delegates and senators in opposition, but has somehow managed to make it to the third and final day of MGA. Amy Tramontozzi from YMCA Arlington - Wakefield, a patron of the bill, contributes part of the bill's success to the enormous support to stop someone who is suffering. Tramontozzi stated in a interview “Although I don’t believe I could personally go through with such a procedure, many suffer everyday from an illness that continually deteriorates both their body and mind, making such a procedure a way to quickly and easily end their suffering.” This is the argument that she has carried through committee and the Senate where it has passed and now heads to the house committees for approval. 

Physician assisted suicide looks as if it will make it to the Youth Governor's desk, however, Governor Dannenfelser does not have a positive outlook for the bill. During his 2019 press conference, Dannenfelser stated that he was indeed in opposition of Old Dominion Senate Bill 71 seeing that part of his agenda this year deals with the preservation of life. He later said “I see this procedure improper in the sense that a doctor should not have the power to assist a patient to end their life.” He ended with comparing this system to an already established system in some European countries where the system can be abused.  

This bill has somehow passed through the committee and Senate regardless of its high opposition. Seeing that the bill is likely to make it through the House and associated committees, the question now falls to whether or not Governor Dannenfelser is willing to sacrifice part his agenda to potentially stop the suffering of men and women in the Commonwealth of Virginia. 

  

The Untold Stories Behind the Bills

The Untold Stories Behind the Bills

By Kiernan Green – Faith Christian School

Model General Assembly is more than generic problems and solutions being recycled year after year. At MGA current problems that are unique to a community are often brought up. Behind every bill is a story and that story is important because it provides context to the problems being presented. These stories are also essential for humanizing the problem. No matter how fun MGA is, sometimes sitting in the chambers for three and a half hours can take their toll and people can grow unsympathetic. This is where the real, untold stories behind the bills are most essential.

This year Ethan Fields, a Senior returning to MGA for his second year from Castlewood High School, is bringing a bill that he believes could help better his community. His bill, Commonwealth Senate Bill No. 24, “prohibits the sale of certain lethal pesticides, such as neonicotinoid pesticides. This bill is especially important to Ethan and his community because the father of a girl in Castlewood’s Hi-Y club owns and operates a bee farm within their hometown. However, the introduction of lethal pesticides such as neonicotinoid pesticides, described in the bill as a pesticide containing “any chemical belonging to the neonicotinoid class of chemicals,” has proved harmful for farmers, florists, and beekeepers alike. If this bill were to be passed, it would positively affect their community in a great way and the fact that people’s voices can be heard and are represented is the beauty of this country.

Matthew Norton, a Senior returning to MGA for his third year from Kenston Forest School, has brought a bill so that people like his Great Grandfather can vote. Matthew went on to describe how because of certain regulations of his occupation, his Great Grandfather usually did not vote, explaining “my Great Grandfather was chief of police and he always had a hard time on election day because he had to carry around a handgun but those aren’t allowed in there,” Matthew concluded his story with, “I don’t think he voted much at all because of it.”

Molly Rhudy, a Senior returning to MGA for her third time from Chilhowie High School, talks about a bill she brought last year regarding the possible requirement of drug testing to receive welfare benefits. She describes how her small town is troubled with an opioid problem and how welfare money can feed into people’s addictions. She describes a personal experience saying, “There’s a girl I know who was about three at the time and her parents just allowed her to climb up onto the table and eat meth.” It was not a problem for the parents because they knew they would get more money from the government soon to resupply their addiction anyways. If the bill were to pass for real, it could really help the Chilhowie community cleanse itself from the drug problems it faces today. Just with three stories out of 550 students, one can begin to see behind the facade of an emotionless bill and into the complex lives of those who it could impact for the better.