Y Youth and Government - Developing Leaders

This past Saturday, more than 125 middle and high school youth from across the state spent their day back in the classroom learning not only the democratic process of government, but more importantly finding their voice, articulating their values, and demonstrating their poise and emerging confidence.

Y Youth and Government is a program designed to educate middle and high school students about the principles of democratic government. Started in New York in 1936, the Youth and Government program was the brainchild of Clement "Pete" Duran, the Boys' Work Secretary of the Albany YMCA. Duran felt that America was in need of better educated politicians with real character and integrity. He believed that the way of providing such politicians was to form programs for young people that developed these character traits. His idea of model youth legislatures continues to be the guiding idea in today's Youth and Government programs, and the motto for his program, "Democracy Must Be Learned by Each Generation," is the motto for all Youth and Government programs in the United States.

The Maryland Y Youth & Government program, in operation for more than 60 years, provides a practical experience in civic education and leadership development for more than 150 high school and middle school students. The program focuses on developing skills, such as research, writing, debate and parliamentary procedure. Students from across the state form delegations, delve into the legislative process; debate issues that affect citizens of their state, write bills and campaign among their peers. The culminating event is a three day mock assembly in Annapolis.

As a result of the program, young people learn about the democratic system and are trained in parliamentary procedure, legislative committee process, debate, press relations, and lobbying techniques. Delegates learn by doing and have the opportunity to try their hand at leadership in an open and receptive learning environment

During the 2009 session, 139 students, from 10 delegations, participated in the program.

The task for the delegations on Saturday was two-fold; elect key leadership and rank the 150 + bills that were submitted. I was introduced to the newly elected cabinet and couldn’t help but think that I was looking into our future. The Youth Governor introduced himself first and was followed by the rest of the cabinet. Dress code for the meetings requires suit & tie/business dress. These young people were poised and confident; albeit transitioning as young adults. I then visited classrooms where bills were being ranked in committee. Education was ranking a student bill disallowing dropping out of high school. The writer of the bill was being questioned by a delegate about exceptions to the proposed bill. Public Safety was debating a student bill related to self-defense and appropriate force. Delegate questions to the writer were thought provoking and required young people to really examine their beliefs. On a lighter note, another bill was presented that banned the use of child leashes (harnesses). In each of these committees, parliamentarians were monitoring the exchange for correct protocol.

Y Youth and Government is an asset rich program that supports young people with the experiences and relationships that become building blocks for healthy development. Perhaps the best way to sum up the program and conclude my thoughts is to share the experience of a Youth and Government student:

Y&G played an integral role in my high school years. I could talk for hours about the typical clichés that students walk away from Y&G with. I could tell you that Y&G gave me a chance to really stand up and take hold of my opinions and to formerly debate them with opposing views. I could tell you that Y&G brought me closer than ever to my best friends and to this day, I have remained even closer with them, now 4 years out of the program. I could also tell you that Y&G gave each and every one of us the chance to believe in not only our values and opinions, but each other. But, you can read all of that in a brochure. To me, Y&G was a way of life, a growing up, and a coming-into-my-own. It taught me to open my eyes to each and every aspect of my beliefs as well as my peers’. It gave me a chance to walk into a room and fight with every part of me for what I believed to be right. It humbled me when I did not succeed and encouraged me when I triumphed. I will not speak for everyone but I can, and will, speak for myself when I say that Y&G stands true to the conviction that the youth of this nation is where we place our cards for the future. With this indescribable and invaluable program, there is no finer way to better prepare the next generations for leadership on communal, national, and global levels. - Emily Rich, class of 2005

Posted by Chris Ader-Soto, Vice President of Child and Family Development, Y of Central Maryland

Drinking Water in Winter

“I tend to forget drinking water even when it’s hot, and you expect me to remember to do that when it’s cold?”

Odds are that something similar came across your mind when you read the headline. No wonder – we’re very good at forgetting that we need to drink water. Even if we’re dying of thirst, there’s a good chance we won’t even notice it!

Everyone tells us when it’s hot, we should drink plenty of water. And while they’re right, that same rule applies to the times when it’s cold too. In winter, our water balance is easy to disrupt, if we don’t know what to do.

Our bodies need water for many purposes. Cooling down is only one of them. You need water to remove toxic waste from your body and to transport minerals in and out of the cells… just to name a few. You need to drink water every day no matter if you’re hot or not. Your body will need this water to keep itself running.

What happens if you don’t drink any water? The body takes that as a sign that you are living in an environment where there is little water. So it cuts down on its use. This makes you perform worse than normal, but at least you are alive. If you start drinking plenty of water, you will teach your body that there really is enough for it to keep going. After a few days, you will start getting thirsty more and more often. Your body will be working at full speed. So basically, we get enough water to survive from the food we eat. But if we are to feel energetic and good about ourselves, we need to drink water no matter if it’s summer of winter.

Posted by Troy Weaver, VP of Health & Wellness Operations, Y of Central Maryland

Youth Obesity

One of the most alarming trends in our country is Youth Obesity—a trend that has significant impact beyond just the weight of our community. Research is clear that poor nutrition and physical inactivity has broad reaching consequences. America’s childhood obesity rates have tripled in the last 30 years, exposing 9 million kids to a variety of potential long-term health consequences. Experts are concerned that this will be the first generation of American children who live sicker and die younger than the previous generation.

In every crisis, there are opportunities. At the Y of Central Maryland, we believe the opportunities in this crisis extend well beyond meeting the need for properly planned and implemented weight control programs. Research is clear that those who lead a healthy active lifestyle not only have lower incidence of health related diseases and disorders but are more productive in all aspects of their life. Additionally, healthy, physically active students actually perform better academically. Unfortunately, in an attempt to improve academic test scores, most school districts have dramatically limited physical education opportunities for students. Not only has this had devastating consequences from a health perspective, but from an academic perspective as well. One study done at Virginia Tech showed that cutting gym class and allocating more time to math, science and reading did not improve test scores. Yet research performed by the California Department of Education has consistently shown that students with higher fitness scores also have higher academic test scores.

In order to meet this need within our society, we offer a wide variety of programs for youth—from Youth Cardio and Teen Strength Training programs to Healthy Kids Day, Karate and Cheerleading, our objective is to find ways to help kids (and their families) get excited, and committed to a healthy active lifestyle. One such program which we’ve developed in conjunction with CareFirst and the Healthways Foundation, has shown a 32% weighted average improvement on six measures of fitness for enrolled children. This kind of holistic approach to overall well-being offers a major weapon in the fight against childhood obesity. This epidemic is symptomatic of other challenges we face as a community. Just as the medical community has discovered the benefits of treating the person vs. just the disease, the same logic holds true with the obesity epidemic.

Posted by Bob Brosmer, Chief Operating Officer, Y of Central Maryland