KYA JournalVolume 1: Issue 1 November 9, 2015

Who’s Running For Candidacy?By Kayleigh Macumber

Some of you may be left wanting to know more about your candidates since it’s hard to really get to know who a candidate is and what they stand for in such a short amount of time. I’ve interviewed some of the candidates to give you more informa-tion about whom you will be voting for.

One of the first candidates I inter-viewed was Irene Reed from Oldham County Middle School. Her plat-forms

are installing scrubbers in Louisville’s industrial factories, reforming how racing thoroughbreds are retired, and providing veterans with scholarships. The reason she picked these platforms is because they had close ties to her personal life as she is a horseback rider and knows multiple veterans.

Irene was inspired to run by her friends Zoe Sanford (current President of the Senate) and Sharon Ma-cum-

ber (President of the Senate in the past) who both went to her school. KYA has made Irene a better speaker, listener, and it has opened her eyes to the other side of debate. Something that sets her apart from the other candidates are her unique platforms and her extended exposure to this program thanks to her brother (Trent Reed).

Dalton Gregory from Clinton Coun-ty Middle School is also running for

office. His main platform is clean lakes because he comes from a town with two lakes close by and seeing the slow deterioration of them makes him want to stand up and do something about it. His advisor Rachel Bernard inspired him to run and has been a long-term role model for him. KYA has helped Dalton speak out when he sees corruption and has changed his point of view when he debates. (continued)

Photo Courtesy of Media Corp

Why They Want to be Governor?

By Kye Dickenson

CAMMERON DURHAM wants to be governor because he wants to make changes in the state and make kids

come back to KYA the next year.

WILL COX said the reason he wants to be the governor is because he wants to

make a difference in Kentucky.

TANNER BATEMAN wants to be the next governor for KYA because he

thinks it’s a good oppor-tunity for him and he thinks it will be fun.

(continued)

Dalton comes from a small community so he sees himself as the voice for the smaller towns and helps make the issues they are facing be heard.

Elizabeth Jones from Russell County Middle School is the next candidate I interviewed. The platform Elizabeth is most passionate about is her bullying platform, she says, “my friends have been bullied. Everybody deserves to be confident and comfortable in their own skin.” Her advisor, Jason Da-vidson, personally asked her to run because of her experience in public speaking. KYA has brought out the leader in Elizabeth and encouraged her to branch out and meet new people. Elizabeth loves making new friends and does things based on the opinions of her peers.

Cammeron Durham from Martha Lane Collins Middle School is another candidate I interviewed. One of his platforms is the support of veterans because he has family members who

are veterans and he wants to sup-port them and the other veterans in Kentucky. Cammeron wants to run because his friends Jake Waford and Jacob Hisle (both governors) encour-aged him to. KYA has given Cameron better leadership and communication skills. Cammeron is very passionate about politics and thinks Kentucky deserves a strong leader like himself.

Annika Hijalda from Sts. Peter and Paul is also running in the election. Annika is really passionate about her platforms because she lived a very privileged life but as she grew up she realized not everyone was as fortunate and she really wanted to give back. When Annika went in 6th grade she noticed her school didn’t have a candidate and when she was in 8th she wanted to change that. KYA helped Annika realize that her voice really does matter and that opinions deserve to be heard. Annika’s focus is on the youth of this state and also the future.

DALTON GREGORY wants to be gov-ernor because he wants to help small

communities in the state.

ELIZABETH JONES wants to be the governor be-cause her platforms are important; bullying, teen pregnancy, and child hunger. She also likes to

lead and interact with other people.

IRENE REED said that she wants to be the next governor because she acknowledges many dif-ferent opin-

ions from across the state.

ANNIKA HIJALDA wants to be the next KYA gov-ernor because she

wants to change the future for the youth of Kentucky.

(continued)

This year’s governor, Jacob Hisle, has been an active person during this weekend’s adventure. He has made many speeches, announcements, signed bills, and has also helped

greatly during the presentations and debates. Not only is he a great gov-ernor, but he also has an incredibly funny personality! Ja-cob has been a great part of this (continued)

By Catherine Cox

Governor’s Spotlight

We all hear our governor candidates “supporting” their platforms, but are they

actually doing activities to help these amazing community services or major political problems? 7 of the 12 candidates offered examples of how they have acted out their passions in real life.

In fact, some candidates have never organized or led an activity or project for their platforms. Interestingly, of those who have done direct action to promote their platforms, a majority have always done their community service hours during school and nev-er sacrificing their own time at home to contribute to the underprivileged parts of our world.

Highlighting the positive side, many candidates have been doing agreat job encouraging and advanc-ing their platform with concrete projects. Some of our candidates

have been visiting veterans’ homes, working to support student voices in their schools, and promoted anti-bul-lying campaigns.

In the end, even though some can-didates have not yet begun to do ser-vice in their communities, we should all appreciate their hard work and devotion to running in this extremely competitive political race.

By Catherine Cox

Candidate’s Platforms: Do They Walk the Walk?

LAUREN LANGHI wants to be the governor because she got so much from the program and she wants

others to get the same.

BRETT WILSON wants to be the next KYA gover-nor because she wants to

be a voice for the voiceless.

JOE HETTINGER wants to be the governor because he wants his voice to be heard and he wants to make an

impact in Ken-tucky.

ISAAC CLARK wants to be governor because he wants to be a voice for

the voiceless.

conference and has given us some great words of wisdom that I guaran-tee will change your opinions during KYA.

“I advise everyone who has been coming to KYA to make it a different experience every time you come, and to always try something new.” As Jacob Hisle said this, it made me want to return to KYA for many more years to come and try to achieve things I never thought were possible. As you can see, throughout this week-end he has inspired many people, including members of the media.

In his interview, he said for all those new-comers at KYA, to keep coming

back to expand your horizons because when in sixth grade, he himself made his first speech. When he made that first presentation, he got this inspi-rational feel-ing that made him want to try more and more. As time went on he made more public speeches and now he is the governor of this amaz-ing event.

One thing he wants to leave you with is to keeps setting goals for yourself by staying involved with ed-uca-tional organizations like KYA and KUNA so that you can always impact others around you in a positive way.

REAGAN EARLYWINE wants to be your next KYA governor because she wants to help take care of the

veterans in Kentucky.