As the school year gets into swing, new clubs are starting to pop up for students to get involved. One of these new clubs is JSA (Junior State of America). JSA was is starting up thanks to senior, Meghna Santra, who hopes to revive the club that once thrived at SHS. With Mr. Kevin Wittman as the teacher advisor, JSA used to be a distinct club almost 10 years ago. Santra and other officers from the club are excited to get this club up and going.

Q: What is JSA (Junior State of America) Club?

A: JSA is a chapter focusing on bipartisan political activism and engagement. It stands for Junior State of America, and our main goal is to involve our generation in the growing conversation about politics, government, and policy-how do the decisions made by our leaders affect our communities, our states, our country, our world? And how can we, as young people, understand the risks and benefits of certain political decisions in terms of the future lying ahead of us? These are the main questions JSA seeks to answer.

Q: Why did you decide to start JSA?

A: I was actually lucky enough to be contacted by a very good friend who’s on the Ohio River Valley JSA committee, and the ethos of the club appealed to me very much because our generation is a constant witness to the news and we are definitely seeing more of important issues being ignored by our representatives-regardless of political standing-and more of young people standing up all around the country and the world to make way for a better, more conscientious future. I really can’t emphasize the necessity of paying attention to politics and the decisions made by our representatives’ enough-they matter! Policy is changing people’s lives right now, and making educated political decisions is one of the best things that we can ever do.

Q: Where does the club meet and when?

A: We will be meeting in Mr. Wittman’s room- that’s room 122- from 2:30 [p.m.] to 3:00 [p.m.] on Wednesdays biweekly.

Q: Why should people join JSA?

A: JSA’s here for everyone who wants a voice in the political conversation of our world today, and people should join its chapter here at Sycamore if they want to be in constant interaction with a peer-to-peer education and insightful discussions of questions which need to be asked in our world today. Be the people!