To start, I am thrilled to be the first blogger to represent the Lonestar State.  I'm Katherine, the current Lieutenant Governor of Texas JSA.  As a senior, this is my fourth amazing year in the Junior State.  The people I’ve met and the opportunities I've had through JSA have defined my high school experience.  The experience of interacting with other politically aware students from around the state as well as the country has been invaluable.  I’ll cut myself off before this begins to sound like a college essay (right now, I’m pretty familiar with those) and fill you in on what’s going on with Texas JSA.

On October 20th, the Gulf Coast Regiona hosted its inaugural conference, "An Eye for an Eye: Is American Justice Blind," that was open to all members of the Texas Junior State.  Held at Rice University, the conference was a huge success.  With 106 registered delegates, we reached our goal of attaendance of 100+.  The GCR hopes to build on this success in the future.  Houston Mayor, Bill White spoke to us about his experiences in both the public and private sector.  I was lucky enough to "mug" Mayor White and upon receiving his mug emblazoned with "Democracy is Not a Spectator Sport," he remarked on the accuracy of that statement and encouraged all of us to try and take an active role in our local government by attending and speaking at city council meetings.

Aside from Mayor White's speech, the debates and thought talks went extremely well.  I was especially excited with the successes we had with new styles of debate like Speed Chess and Cross Fire.  Another highlight of the convention was the Activism Department's bake sale.  Sarah King organized a sale of brownies, cookies, bottled water, and other items and raised over $200.  The money is going to fund the travel expenses of our Fall State speaker.  We're bringing in a representative from the Elias Fund, a non-profit organization that provides hope and opportunity to Zimbabwean youth through education and community development. 

With the GCR regional behind us, the Texas Junior State can look forward to what promises to be an incredible Fall Conference, "America Split Down the Aisle."  Fall State is always my favorite convention, mainly because of the location.  The weekend of November 17-18 promises to be fun-filled couple of day's debating at the Texas State House.  I cannot wait to quick off the year JSA-style.

That’s all for now.  Look out for more blogs in the weeks to come.  And as always, if you have any questions about happenings in Texas JSA, feel free to email me at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it  I'd love to help!

Katherine Kelley
Lieutenant Governor of Texas JSA