(by Don Meador, Allen County Schools, December 3, 2019)
Allen County-Scottsville High School students
Olivia Harwood, Taylor Beth Huff, and Abigail Stamps received several high
honors and recognitions at the recent Kentucky Youth Assembly (KYA) in
Louisville. The trio was named the Outstanding Advocate
Appellee Team (for earning the highest overall team score) and earned the
Premiere Delegation Award. Stamps received the Outstanding Delegate Award while
Huff was selected at the 2020 KYA Chief Justice.
The Kentucky Youth Assembly is a three-day expanded educational
opportunity in which students serve as part of a mock state
government. KYA offers students the opportunity to learn about a wide
variety of issues and articulate their beliefs while engaging constructively
with their peers from around the Commonwealth.
“The Kentucky Youth Assembly gives you a real-life mock state government experience,” Stamps explained. “It puts you in different positions. The majority of it is the legislative branch. There is also the judicial side of it and that’s what we did this year. It’s a smaller segment but a lot harder.”
Huff added that participating on the judicial side required them to review
a large quantity of material to prepare for their work at the KYA.
“The packet had different case materials, information, and documents” Stamps added. “We were an attorney team and we got to argue our side of a case.”
“Our case was about drug testing in school with children,” Huff added. “We had to argue whether it was constitutional or not. We were basically lawyers for a couple of days. We were on the side of a school board arguing that drug testing was constitutional.”
The AC-SH team presented their case in three rounds---the first two in
Louisville with the final presentation in front of their peers in a very real and
applicable setting.
“We actually presented our case in Louisville in the first two rounds in front of actual attorneys from Louisville to get their feedback,” Huff said. “The last round was in Frankfort in the Kentucky Capitol Supreme Court room in front of nine justices, students that had been elected.”
The trio learned on the final day of KYA that they were both the highest
scoring applicate team and the overall highest scoring team. Their honor brings
with it a chance to advance and compete at the National Judiciary Conference
next summer in Chicago.
“At the national level, you do not get to choose which side in an issue,” Huff said. “You have to prepare for both sides of an issue because you will not know until you walk into the court room which side you will argue.”
Huff was also “surprised” on the final day of the KYA when she learned she would be the Chief Justice in 2020.
“A justice position is a position that you apply for,” Huff explained. “Basically, you are over the Supreme Court and you get to ask questions to the attorney teams and like a real justice, make the decisions. At the head of that is the Chief Justice which is an appointed position. Typically, it’s appointed from the other justices. But, on the first day at KYA, we were notified that all the justices this year were seniors so no one was eligible to be the chief justice. We learned that an outstanding junior from the attorney teams would be chosen. Since we are a smaller school none of us thought anything would happen. But, on the last day, the current Chief Justice---Sarah Peterson from Gatton Academy---opened the envelope and said that your next chief justice is from Allen County-Scottsville High School. That was automatically a huge deal since we are a smaller school. I was not expecting that at all.”
The individual honor brings with it multiple responsibilities for Huff
over the next year.
“I get to be a presiding officer which means that I’m on the officer team for the whole assembly and will get to speak at different things,” Huff explained. “I also have five different conferences and meetings to go to. They are overnight retreats that are mandatory.”
Stamps is quick to note that the success of the trio has been a high
point of her high school experience.
“I have gone to KYA for a few years and every year we had always been a part of the legislative team,
Stamps added. “This year, we were on the judiciary team but we weren’t expecting any of this. It was probably the best experience I have gone through.”
Harwood echoed Huff and Stamp’s thoughts while adding that the results highlight the hard work put forth as part of the Co-Ed-Y club at the high school.
“It feels great,” Harwood said. “KYA and club Co-Ed-Y is not well-known so being able to do so well and show our school what we can do is great. This is something that will help me down the road. It’s help me to figure out what I want to be in life. It made me realize that I want to go into political science as a major and into future government.”
According to the AC-SH handbook, Co-Ed-Y is focused on developing
engaged citizens and servant leaders who are inspired to affect change in their
school, community, state, nation, and world. The club is also committed to
foster leadership, critical thinking, and social responsibility.
The accomplishment of Harwood, Huff, and Stamps continue a long
tradition of success for AC-SH students at the KYA. Past Outstanding Advocates
from AC-SH include Kelly Calvert (1982), Rachel Roberts
(1999) and Laura Lee Fleming (2000). Fleming was also a Justice in 2001. Until
recent years, the KYA paired the students from AC-SH with students from other
schools for the competition.