TeenPact MS 2010

You knew it was coming...
Yep, it's about time for this post.

{Representative Candidates. Hugh was one of them, but sadly, did not make the picture.}

Where do I begin? This year. Was. Awesome. Last year, not so much. I just was shy, didn't know what was going on, didn't really try to get involved in all the fun stuff in committees and running for office or even just asking the speaker to yield to a question (which is correct Parliamentary Procedure according to Robert's Rules, you know), or much of anything, really. And host housing was not so great last year. But this year I stayed at Camp Garraywa, where we played tons of ULTIMATE, I met new friends, saw old ones again, got to walk back and forth from the Capitol to the church many times, played Do You Love Your Neighbor (best game ever, in case you don't know), was a member of the awesome JUD committee, got elected clerk of said committee (which basically means that, while everyone else got to eat, I had to read the bills which we voted on as a comittee. Not that cool.), got to drive down in a 15-passenger van with our New Albany/Tupelo group.

 {The 3 gubernatorial candidates: Jamie, Josiah, and Audrey}

Wait, let me rephrase that. I got to ride down. Jamie drove. Poor thing. Oh, and Jamie was nominated by our party, the Agrarian party, to run for governor. He didn't win but it was funny to see him campaign. (He didn't want to win, either. You see, if you're elected you have to give a 5 minute speech on Graduation Day. Which isn't fun.) I stayed in cabin #5. There were six of us girls plus Mrs. Carol, who was amazing. I loved getting to know those girls.

{Cabin #5: Mrs. Carol, Lydia, ?, Lindsay, Amber, Sarah, and Hannah.}

I drank Dr. Chino! (Katie and Sydney and Hannah invented this, so all credits go to them.* It's pictured below.) It's Dr. Pepper + Vanilla Frappacino.* Yeah, we had a Frappacino* dispenser in the cafeteria. It was great. Oh, and the food was surprisingly good. Once again, way better than last year. Mr. Callen was our camp director this year and he spoke at the evening sessions. He had a lot of great things to say. We got to hear speakers (various Senators and Representatives). Most of the speakers (for the most part) were pretty good, excepting one. No name.

 

{Campaign song. Don't ask.}

  

All in all, I had a wonderful time. Excepting the one day I got lost, wandered around the church for 25 minutes looking for my committee and beginning to feel hungry, then finally finding them and dropping my plate. 

Quoteables: "This neighborhood must be nice, they have silver fire hydrants!"

"The ice cream's melted!" (Inside joke, and I won't tell who said this for the sake of his...*ahem* I mean, or her reputation.)

"Chinese handcuffs" Ha, the Communist Party

"What's texting?" The Agrarian Party

"Pull out your pens, pencils, feathers, or inkwells, whichever you prefer." Funny the first time, it did, however, get old after the 7th time. 

"Vote for Hugh, he's for you - and the children too!"

Amendment I: For the purpose of this post, "Frappacino" shall mean Cappuccino. (Thanks Katie, for the correction.)  

Amendment II: I stand corrected... again. The said Dr. Chino was invented by none other than Hannah, popularized by Katie, and scorned at by Sydney.