The following student report was submitted by Ambassador League Agent Max K. during the 2007-2008 League.
My SSI Experience
This past summer was my second time to SSI, so I participated as a senator. I was in Justice Committee, Blue caucus. Our bill to support was HB 4042, which raised the school attendance age from 16 to 18. And our bill to oppose was HB 4044, which made drug companies liable for their drugs which were approved by the FDA.
At first our caucus meetings were slightly unproductive. However, we did brainstorm different strategies to take when presenting our bill. On the bill we supported we decided to take the approach that raising the compulsory attendance age would benefit Michigan's future economy.
Our opposing caucus's bill was to make drug companies liable for their drugs that were approved by the FDA. But we rebutted by saying that the drug industry is such a high risk industry that they need some protection.
The teaching seminars during the week had a strong impact on my life. The most interesting seminar for me was by Mr. Lennie Mailand when he talked about the different worldviews.
The day of my speech I woke up to knocking on our door. I looked at the clock and saw that it was five minutes past the time for devotions. So we all ran out and we apart of the devotions but then we skipped breakfast to get ready. I got the last shower and was the last one to get to the buses, so I was a little frustrated. Once we got in the bus the butterflies in my stomach started flying around.
We got into the chambers and I found my desk. I couldn't help but feel important as I sat in the tall leather chair at the old wooden desk. A feeling I can't describe came over me, and it was the fact that I was sitting in the very place where the laws of the state were made. I realized that what I was pretending to do the lawmakers did do on a day-to-day basis.
I had practiced my speech the night before and could recite it almost by memory, but that fact did not keep me from looking at my paper. I thought about last year when I gave my speech, how even more nerves I was before that, and I realized that I was unnaturally calm.
I think now that the more speeches I give, and the amount of people that hear me speak, the more comfortable I will became with public speaking. As I am looking at a career in law, the more public speaking skills I acquire now will benefit me later in life. Public speaking will also benefit me if I choose not to study law because public speaking is just communication, and communication is important in every day life.
Next summer I plan to attend SSI again but this time participating in the law course. I think that this will really show me what a career in law is like. And I think that the skills I learned this year and last year will help me in the law track. I've learned how to persuade and communicate affectively to an audience in the legislative track of SSI and I plan on further developing these skills as I precede in the SSI camps.
SSI has helped me in many ways, by overcoming the fear of public speaking, by developing my reasoning skills, to be able to identify hidden agendas, and by testing my character against the ultimate truth, the Word of God.
