USN students earn accolades during Youth In Goverment

This past weekend, 38 USN students participated in the 71st Youth In Government conference at the State Capitol and neighboring buildings in downtown Nashville. Many students brought home awards, and everyone had a fantastic time doing the things we do. Click here to see photos from YIG 2024.
By Mackey Luffman, Youth In Government Advisor 

It’s been a good year for the nerds at University School of Nashville. With victories in Mock Trial, Ethics Bowls, Math and Science Competitions, Model UN, and more, our students were riding a wave of momentum into this year’s Youth In Government conference.

For decades, USN students have been attending YIG, sponsored by the YMCA of Middle Tennessee’s Center for Civic Engagement. Students act as legislators, drafting, debating, and enacting legislation; they act as lawyers, arguing appellate cases before the State Supreme Court; they act as lobbyists, researching legislation and campaigning among legislators to promote agendas; a select few students serve as state administrators in the Governor’s Cabinet, proposing and debating policies and legislation to support those policies. 
 
 
In the Blue (Novice) House of Representatives, Sawyer Beckwith ‘25, Jude Eskind ‘25, and Asher Hirt ‘25 presented a bill requiring bike lanes on state highways with four lanes or more. Iliana Behague-Mentzel ‘25, Uma Ehrig ‘26, and Luc Behague-Mentzel ‘26 presented a bill to strengthen the state’s Substance Abuse Disorder Program. Elisabeth Crane ‘27 and Caroline Stinner ‘27 presented a bill to insert anaerobic digestion plants into landfills in the state, and finally, Ruchika Ramachandran ‘27 and Bridget Beem ‘27 presented a bill to require HPV vaccines in the state, which won an Outstanding Bill Award.  

Erin Joyce ‘25 presided over the Blue Senate as Lieutenant Governor, having been elected by last year’s conference delegates, and was commended for her ability to teach novice delegates some of the intricacies of parliamentary procedure. She also campaigned for office to serve as Lieutenant Governor of the Red Senate for YIG 2025. 

In the White Senate, Binyam Dunne ‘26 presented a bill to upgrade and strengthen the process of permitting industrial feedlot operations; the bill was passed and signed by the governor and went on to earn an Outstanding Bill Award. Binyam also won an Outstanding Statesman Award for his leadership in debate and won his (unopposed) election to serve as the Floor Leader of the Blue House at YIG 2025. We call this the “YIG Trifecta!” 

In the White House, Avee Shah ‘25 and Kasey Mooney ‘25 presented their bill to provide subsidized and price-limited childbirth care in Tennessee. Ismaeel Moskinzada ‘26 and Saawan Duvvuri ‘26 presented their bill to extend the Tennessee Promise education program to incarcerated nonviolent offenders. Saawan discovered the additional joy of the consequences for "conning" a USN bill in debate but made up for it by earning an Outstanding Statesperson Award. Liv O’Hara ‘25 and Gibson Hurley ‘25 presented their bill to create a mixed-income housing fund for the state modeled after Metro Nashville’s Barnes Fund. Tessa Chomsky ‘25 and Elle Phillips ‘25 presented their bill to regulate the plea bargain process, and for her efforts in debate, Tessa was nominated for an Outstanding Statesperson Award. Z Aulino ‘26 and Erin Ilagan ‘26 presented their bill to install vertical wind turbines in select spots on Tennessee highways. For her work in debate, Z won an Outstanding Statesperson Award. Finally, Carmen Gaskin ‘25, Bronson Schmidt ‘25, and Stewart Hall ‘25 presented their bill to remit student debt for healthcare workers in rural areas and won an Outstanding Bill Award! 

In the Red (Senior) House, Xavier Warren ‘24 and Henry Wykoff ‘24 presented a bill to make Tennessee a sanctuary state for immigrants. For his efforts, Xavier won an Outstanding Statesman Award. Lia Cohen-Poole ‘25 and Simon Fox ‘25 presented their bill to make school board elections non-partisan (again). Finally, Oliver McDowell ‘25 presented his bill to require emergency communication towers in all state parks, which the governor endorsed.

In the Red Senate, Floor Leader Ophelia Cherry-Pulay ‘25’s bill to eliminate medical monopolies in Tennessee passed both chambers and received the Outstanding Bill Award. 

USN students excelled in the other branches of government. In the Governor’s Cabinet, Beckett Dahir ‘25 and Brendan West ‘25 served respectively as the commissioners for Tourist Development and Education. The two shepherded key bills through the legislative process, leading to a social-media beef-fest as both provided controversial quotes that exposed the realities of policy discussions. 

Madeline Chalos ‘25 and Harper Martin ‘26 served in the lobbyist component, doing whatever lobbyists do, lurking in the shadows at the capitol. I take the secrecy around their activities as a faithful representation of actual lobbyist work that will prepare our students for that particular political specialty. 

Jaya Gupta ‘25 served in the Press Component, putting together articles and social media posts on a range of topics at the Conference.

USN students were also successful in the State Supreme Court component. Serving as Associate Justice, Henry Gatto ‘25 won the Jenny Faenza Outstanding Justice Award for his work shepherding student lawyers and justices through the complexities of case law within the boundaries of oral arguments. He is the second consecutive USN student to win this award and was elected to serve as Chief Justice at YIG 2025. Ellie Rothman ‘25 also served as Associate Justice and was re-elected to the bench for YIG 2025.

USN is on a roll with providing conference leadership, as four USN students will serve as elected officers in next year’s conference: Ellie and Henry on the State Supreme Court, and Erin and Binyam in the legislature. Last, and most definitely not least, Ophelia Cherry-Pulay ran a great campaign for governor at this year’s conference. As the young people say, she "owned the opposition with normie language" in the policy debate among the gubernatorial candidates. She lost a close vote, but her real accomplishment was being selected to serve on the Tennessee delegation to the Conference on National Affairs this summer. To use a sports analogy: Ophelia is an all-state delegate chosen by the conference staff to represent the state program at a simulation of our national government. It’s the highest honor bestowed by the program, and Ophelia follows in the footsteps of other YIG alums like Riya Narayan ‘23, Arnav Reddy ‘22, Lydia West ‘21, and Claire Kim ‘20 with this selection. 

We give a special word of thanks to Business Office Manager Sarah Dey for spending the weekend helping us at the conference.

Please congratulate these students when you see them.
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