Hoban's chapter of Junior State of America sent representatives to the spring convention in Columbus the weekend of April 22-23.

They heard campaign speeches from potential Governors and Lt. Governors of the Ohio River Valley region of JSA.

Junior Andrew Bluebond worked as campaign manager for Katlin Rust of Scott High School. Rust ran for Lt. Governor and won by a single vote in the closest election in JSA history, gaining a total of 72 votes.

Bluebond appreciated the rest of the convention as well.

"This year's spring state had a wide variety of debate topics," he said. "The topics made it possible for many more people to get involved."

Bluebond earned three awards at the convention. The most prestigious was the "Super Debater" award. Topics Bluebond debated included the distribution of condoms in public schools, abolition of the death penalty and constitutional protection of hate speech.

Interestingly, the courtroom Bluebond debated in was the same room in which his mock trial team won the state championship earlier this year.

Other representatives from Hoban included senior Darell Hayes and sophomore Chris Papajcik. Hayes earned a Best Speaker award for his speech opposing the abolition of welfare programs.

Overall, the JSA representatives from Hoban enjoyed the convention and worked with issues that had real meaning to them as students. Bluebond thinks the debates were relevant to current issues that high school-aged students could likely encounter.

"Rather than complex and incomprehensible political debates, there were debates about issues that actually affect students," he said.