Youth take over state Legislature

Raleigh, N.C. — Some young, future lawmakers took over the North Carolina General Assembly this weekend.

Nearly 1,000 teens from across the state were in Raleigh for the annual YMCA N.C. Youth Legislature Conference.

Among the topics up for discussion was the $787 billion federal stimulus package passed Friday by Congress.

“We can start over and start bringing our economy back up,” 16-year-old Zach Romeo said.

“That is a lot of money when you think about it,” 16-year-old Joan Villarreal said.

“But I really think it is worth it. The outcome of it will pay off,” 14-year-old Kiyonna Morgan said.

The future lawmakers say it is their job to weigh in on what is happening in Washington, D.C., because it affects them too.

“As a 16-year-old looking for a job this summer, the economic stimulus is going to be a great benefit to me,” Korinne Dunn said.

“Obviously, we are going to have to work real hard to repay all this money,” Romeo said.

The conference is part of the national YMCA's national Youth & Government program for high school students. The program gives them the chance to develop leadership skills and to gain knowledge about public policy.

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Latest Comments

We should let the youth actually run the legislature, I'm sure their decisions would be better than our "seasoned" politicians. Funny how special interests, campaign money get in the way of common sense.

Builder
February 16, 2009 1:49 p.m.

The ONLY problem with what they see, they MAY not realize that there really is evil in this world, and it's something we will always have to deal with....wait....That's what we're dealing with now...OK, maybe they wouldn't do any worse!

ObamaMustGo aka NCcarguy
February 16, 2009 10:07 a.m.

HUH, pbjbeach, you took the words right out of my mouth!

NCPictures
February 16, 2009 9:03 a.m.

They should make these kids the real perament legisture as that i feel sure that they can do the job just as good if not better than the real legisture for sure they couldn't possibly do any worst job than the real thing with regards to budgetary issues an the running of this state an they in all probablity would work a lot cheaper than the real thing does as to the cost to the taxpayers an perhaps they would be a lot more truthful an honest with the taxpayers than the real thing is . also they probably wouldn't insist on a vacation after having been on the job for less than a month thank you

pbjbeach
February 16, 2009 7:18 a.m.