Albany, NY - March 29, 2018 - Earlier this month, 124 William Floyd High School students descended upon the state capital for the 82nd annual New York State YMCA Youth and Government conference, an event that assembles the brightest student minds interested in government and public service from all across the state for a weekend of simulated government inside the state’s legislative chambers. William Floyd, under the leadership of their advisors, Robert Feeney and Patricia Costell, won 70 percent of the state leadership positions that they ran in and also picked up a host of awards.
Students elected to leadership positions during last year’s conference presided over this year’s conference. William Floyd had the most, with eight students serving in those roles: Evan Meinke, Lieutenant Governor; Dahlia Ramos, President Pro Tempore of the Senate; Khadija Saad, Chief Justice; Katie Lindley, Speaker of Assembly Freedom; Robert Henn, Deputy Speaker of Assembly Freedom; Daniel Hintze, Speaker of Assembly Liberty; Julia Mastrup, Deputy Speaker of Assembly Liberty; and Cassidy Connelly, Attorney General.
This year, William Floyd continued its dominance, running for 10 statewide offices and winning election to seven of them. Those positions include Dahlia Ramos, Lieutenant Governor; Jayden Fritz-Berrios, Speaker, Assembly Liberty, Robert Henn, Speaker, Assembly Freedom; Patrick Barnett, Deputy Speaker, Assembly Freedom; Maille Bowerman, Chief Justice; Jonathan Hendry, Attorney General; and Lindsey Wibrew, Attorney General.
William Floyd students also took home numerous awards including: Neha Yousef and Gabriella Monte, “Best Brief” award for case A; and Sebastian Cwalinski, “Best Firm” for case D. The “Best Attorney” awards went to Anthony Delgado (second time achieving this honor), Jenny Le and Holden Voelger.
In Assembly Freedom, Robert Henn, Ryan Collins and David Macaroni won the “Best Bill” award, while Manny Santana took home the title of “Best Debater.” Jayden Fritz-Berrios also took home that honor in Assembly Liberty. Over in the Senate, George Lapodis won “Best Debater.”
Additionally, Katie Lindley, Evan Meinke, Dahlia Ramos, Khadija Saad and Maille Bowerman were selected to attend the YMCA Conference on National Affairs, the federal version of the state Youth and Government conference, to be held this summer in Black Mountain, North Carolina.