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AJ Blumenfeld
61st California Youth Governor
El Crescenta-Cañada YMCA |
Governor's Message - 3/20/08
Some people walk into our lives and easily walk out, leaving very little behind. Some experiences begin and end perhaps serving their purpose but meaning very little beyond that. But then there are those people who change how we feel, those moments that change how we think, and those experiences that change our lives. Youth and Government brings together these people, gives us those moments, and is that experience.
In a world where sometimes the hardest thing to do is coexist with our fellow man, and in a culture where it becomes increasingly harder to care, this program exists as a training for the art of dealing with and appreciating differences of thoughts, beliefs, and character while reminding us how much there really is to care about.
To many our program may extend only as far as three statewide conferences where we assume the role of government officials and use their facilities in Sacramento with a few delegation meetings in-between, but, to the twenty-five hundred annual participants, this program far exceeds the bounds of a few conferences. The potential of exposure to remarkable people and mind-altering experiences is as infinite as the lessons we take away from them. Moreover, we keep these with us through each step of our lives—always fulfilling a greater purpose of providing a better life for ourselves and those around us; those we care about.
Youth and Government is, has been for over sixty years, and will continue to be the beginnings of tomorrow. There is something undeniably scary about the mysteries of the future but something incredibly thrilling as well. Problems of today will be left for this generation to solve tomorrow and our generation will have challenges of its own creation to face. There is little better that can be done in preparing to meet these challenges head on than participating in the process of ideas that is Youth and Government. I am incredibly honored to be given the opportunity to participate as the 61st Youth Governor.
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