Lexington Middle School Students Pass Two Bills During Youth Leadership Initiative’s National E-Congress
The School District of Lee County congratulates Lexington Middle School students Sara Hassan, Nikita Danesh, Jacob Paschall and Michael Briseno for writing and passing two bills during the Youth Leadership Initiative’s National E-Congress. YLI's E-Congress allows students to simulate the role of a representative in the United States Congress, by researching and drafting legislation, debating it in legislative committees and voting.
“This is a tremendous accomplishment based on serious hard work and dedication,” says Lexington Middle Social Studies teacher Cindy Volpe. “These students thoroughly researched, designed and formulated bills which were then vetted by adults and other students through an extremely rigorous, multi-stage legislative process. One of the things that makes me most proud of these students is that they chose to write bills designed to protect the rights of often marginalized groups - children with disabilities and immigrants.”
Volpe engaged her 7th grade gifted social students’ class with the E-Congress in January. The students developed nine bills, which were sent to other schools around the country for debate and amendments. Just before spring break, four were moved to a final vote. The E-Congress then virtually convened in April to approve two of the students’ bills.
Sara Hassan and Nikita Danesh wrote a bill to create the Federal Disability Database. “The purpose of this bill is to create a Federal Disability Database (FDD) that would store the information from free developmental / behavioral testing for preschool age children,” the bill says. “The reason for this early analysis is to get a disability diagnosis quickly. This is key to helping the person get whatever services, therapies, and medication they may need in order for them to have the best possible life outcome.”
Michael Briseno and Jacob Paschall wrote the No Immigrants Mistreated Act, “To establish funding cuts on border security in order to fund immigration processing, simplify citizenship paths, and improve justice in immigration courts.” They proposed a new agency, The Department of Protecting Immigration, to manage border security, fund immigration courts and distinguish between asylum seekers and criminals at border crossings.
All four students will soon receive a certificate from the Youth Leadership Initiative honoring them for having a bill passed in the National E-Congress.