MOYIG Update

Well here it is Friday and Michael has completed one day, and from what he has told me, he is loving it. I will say it has to be an experience like no other. I thought I would be a head of the game and give him a wake up call at 6:45, however he and his buddies were already down having the breakfast buffet ($13). As I mentioned in my previous post, if you have a facebook account you will be able to view his daily agenda. (I do like to post as much information as possible and yet "feel safe") The nice thing about facebook is, you can accept or decline anyone to your account and you have complete control who sees what. JSYK - you can only view in depth details if you are one of my friends. As I mentioned I like to keep certain things as private as possible, however share it with those most important to me.
Back to MOYIG - as far as sleeping arrangements last night, Michael did get the floor as he wished (why I will never know) however the boys did decide to call Housekeeping and had a cot/roll away delivered and Michael used the mattress from that to sleep on the floor and was quite comfy. He was able to get 6 hrs sleep. This will really test how mature the boys are. How? Well they are in their hotel room alone, no chaperone's. Same with the 9 girls. I have no doubt in Michael that he is on his best behavior and won't let me down!!
Today their day starts at 8:45am and goes to 11:30pm. They do have several breaks and lunch/dinner in between all of that. What a very long day.
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I didn't know I would receive an update from the teacher/chaperon, however when I received it is was in a very pleasant shock. So here is the detailed scoop from the front lines:
"I thought I would take a moment and give you a quick update on our trip. We arrived around 11:30 Thursday morning (after a potty stop at McDonalds on the way) and quickly dropped our luggage off in the rooms. We received a quick overview on the program and the students were ushered off to lunch in one of the ballrooms in the hotel. (Pizza, chicken strips, cookies, etc.. After that, we went to the Capitol for a group YIG picture of all 300+ students participating, (about 60 eighth graders and the rest High School students) and then went inside for the opening session held in the Senate chambers. I think the students were impressed with being there!!!

Students were then broken into 3 groups led by former YIG participants and current college students for introductions. They will be spending time working in these small groups for the rest of the weekend. After a quick dinner at a pizza place across the street from the Capitol we headed back to the hotel for small group discussions. We discussed the 4 issues in the "preparation kit" (internet safety, environment, health and wellness, and community service) as well as issues they feel are important to the youth of Missouri. They are working in these small groups as I type this to craft bills regarding these issues. Later this morning they will present their bills "in committee". It should help them to understand how the process works!!

We also saw a mock trial last night involving a case where a young girl was suing the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education because of pictures that were posted of her on MySpace taken during a party. Because of the "emotional stress" of having students discussing these pictures at school, she suffered from depression and post traumatic stress syndrome. A statute signed into law at last year's YIG convention prevented the school from disciplining students for activity that does not occur on school campus or during school sanctioned events. The plaintiff in the case claimed the stature was unconstitutional and that DESE's enforcement of the statute was as well. We will hear the judges ruling on the case tomorrow. The kids really got into that!!

Ending the evening was a debate between the 4 candidates for governor this year. Our 8th graders found that interesting but not really a "debate". "It was more like a Miss America pageant" said Erica. (I agree!). They did have fun counting how many times one of the candidates said "UM". Aren't 8th graders fun!!!

We got back to our rooms around 11:15 and there were no problems that I heard of!!! All of the kids were up and ready before I was this morning, ate breakfast at the restaurant downstairs (very reasonable for a hotel!!!), and ready to start the day. I even had the cook from the restaurant come out of the kitchen to tell me how polite our young men were when they ate in the restaurant earlier. That made me proud!!!!

The rest of our day includes learning how to write bills, participating in a mock trial, a scavenger hunt of the Capitol building (don't worry they are not in session), speeches by the candidates for governor, a banquet, and a rec night at the Y. We should be tired at the end, that is for sure!!!

Know that they are all behaving, dressed perfectly (even the ties are tied right!), and making Sperreng proud!!! They are a great group and I hope are having fun and learning at the same time!! I'll keep you posted!!"