With all the negativity surrounding teenagers, there are three Nicholls students trying to make a positive difference for the future by presenting the Youth Government Forum for Better Government Friday, Sept. 30 from 6-9 p.m.
Organized by the Lafourche Youth for Good Government, the forum will host political candidates from state representatives to the coroner. The candidates will have two and a half minutes for an opening statement. They will then be presented with one question and a two and a half minute rebuttal. Next, the floor will be open to the public. The event will end with a three and a half minute closing statement.
The forum is for political candidates to get a chance to reach first time voters and other youth in the parish.
Members of the LYGG include Trey Chaisson, founder and chairman; Ron Sapia, legal assistant studies freshman and co-chairman and political coordinator of the LYGG and Damian Breaux, allied health sophomore from Thibodaux and SGA liaison for the LYGG.
The forum started when Chaisson sent e-mails to Charlotte Randolph and Gerald “Buzz” Breaux, both nominees for parish president. They then sent the e-mail to other officials and the idea had a snowball effect.
“We got an excited reaction from political candidates. It is nerve-wracking talking to them. I wonder, ‘will they dismiss me because I’m only 18,’ or ‘will they take me seriously?’ It’s interesting to see how different candidates think and how their opinions change,” Chaisson said.
Chaisson and Sapia have met regularly with Philip Gouaux, candidate for councilman District 7. Gouaux has helped the young men settle the questions they had about the forum.
They also organized a voter registration drive at Central Lafourche High School during their senior year. The drive got 466 students to register to vote. They also had Gouaux and a representative from the registrar of voters to speak about the importance of voting.
The overall message is to strengthen the relationship between the government and youth. They want to get youth in the parish registered to vote and more informed on political candidates. The group wants young people to be able to go to their councilman and talk about problems in government. As a group, LYGG is not supporting any one candidate; they just want to get the information on voting out there.
One big issue being pushed is coastal erosion. According to Chaisson, Louisiana is losing land by the day, the hour and the minute. Everyone in the group is from Lockport and is curious to know if it will become ocean front property by the time they are 30 years old. There are three amendments to put more back into the coast. These are the amendments the group is pushing.
The Lafourche Youth for Good Government is working on their next project. It is a candidate social scheduled for October 1 at the American Legion in Lockport, but right now their main focus is the forum.