Seven attended Youth Service Day
Seven members of the O’Neill High School senior class and the Youth-in-Government Club attended the annual Orange County Youth Service Day on April 5. There, their high school was honored.
In all, 70 students from 11 local school districts participated in the day-long event designed to provide students with real world government experience. The day is coordinated by Orange-Ulster BOCES in cooperation with the Orange County Youth Bureau.
It began at the Orange County Government Center in Goshen. Some of the students had the opportunity to ‘shadow’ various county officials and visit a number of county offices, including: county clerk, county executive, district attorney, economic development, human rights, parks & recreation, finance, and mental health.
Other students participated in a mock legislative session that centered on the legalization of recreational marijuana. This included a presentation by the Commissioner of the Orange County Health Department, Dr. Irina Gelman, who discussed the health implications of the proposed legislation.
A luncheon at the Holiday Inn in Middletown followed the legislative session. It included several speakers who, as high school students, were members of Youth-in-Government, and as adults, became active in politics.
The speakers included Karl Brabenec, a New York State Assemblyman; Dan Depew, who has held a number of local political offices; and Seth Arluck, a businessman who has been active in community organizations and government affairs regarding the lumber industry. Also speaking to the students were BOCES Superintendent William Hecht, Youth-in-Government Coordinator Robert Sassi, and District Attorney David Hoovler.
It was at the lunch that the HF-FMCSD was honored with the Youth-in-Government Distinction of Merit Award for Outstanding Student Achievement. The award was given for the first time this year for Youth-in-Government’s 75th anniversary. It honors the district whose students won the most governmental positions.
O’Neill senior Sawyer Vermeesch said Youth-in-Government has taught him a great deal about how this country works.
“I think young people in our country don’t know enough about how our government works, and Youth-in-Government is a great way to educate high schoolers,” he said.
O’Neill’s students were accompanied by club advisors Chris Coyne, Nicole Glennon and Jorma Tompuri.
Owen Bieger spent his day in the county executive’s office; Luke Kilner & Will Van Poppel were with the legislature; Vermeesch was with social services; Suzy Wright was with the supreme court; Michaela Reinertsen was in the district attorney’s office; and Abby Gash was in parks & recreation.
Other O’Neill students who won positions in the program this year were: Ajay Nylander (state senator), Mitch Browne (state senator), Nathalia Rodriguez (attorney general) and Jack Kelly (state assembly).
The state winners will go to Albany for state recognition & a luncheon on May 21st
“Our students all expressed how they couldn’t believe how much fun government was and what a fantastic experience the day was!” Tompuri said.
