Members of Central’s Junior State of America (JSA) chapter competed at the Fall State convention this November. The group finished with 3 “best speaker” awards. 

“[JSA] is a nonpartisan student-run civic engagement organization,” chapter president Imaan Niazi said. “Compared to other clubs, it’s less about competition and more about the convention experience.”

The convention was held on Nov. 19-20 in Chicago. 

The convention consisted of over 25 schools from across the midwest.

“[My favorite moment] was walking in for the first time,” Niazi said. “I would say it never gets old because once you walk in you see people you haven’t seen for months on end.” 

At the convention, both junior Reham Fahad and freshman Anushka Jain won best speaker awards. Fahad won two best speaker awards, has been part of the group for two years and is the director of debate for JSA. 

“It [was] a really nice [atmosphere,] but there [was] competitiveness,” Fahad said. “Everyone kind of wants to be the best speaker but there was also that sense of, hey, even though I didn’t win you did a great job speaking.”  

With plans for this year and the next, the team is looking forward to their Winter Congress convention in February. 

“[The goal] would be to get as many voices as possible, get more people talking,” Niazi said. “Also getting a variety of political topics so that we can keep up the non-partisan aspect of JSA.” 

JSA also offers students unique experiences, Niazi said. 

“The best part of JSA is the fact that you get to familiarize yourself with something that a lot of adults are scared of doing and that’s talking about politics,” Niazi said “So just stopping by a meeting would be cool.”