Seven members of the Junior State of America club at Redwood are running for leading positions in the organization this spring.

Juniors Brian Montesinos, Kismet Kumar, Anyu Silverman, Melissa Papuc, Teymour Sadrieh, Marcus Gerstein, and Nicole Garay all declared their intention to run for elected positions in JSA’s model government at the last convention over the weekend of Feb. 1.

Montesinos, Kumar, and Silverman are running for state positions, while Papuc, Sadrieh, Gerstein, and Garay are running for regional positions in the program.

JSA allows students to learn about civic engagement and the workings of the U.S. government, while teaching debate skills. Similar to Model United Nations, JSA student delegates go to conventions to debate student-written bills and current controversial issues. All the conventions, conferences, and political awareness events are run by the student-held positions.
Montesinos is running for NorCal JSA Governor, the highest ranking position in the NorCal state. Ten different states exist within JSA, although they do not exactly correspond with real U.S. states. For example,

California is broken into Northern California and Southern California, because California has many delegates, while other JSA states are a combination of U.S. states, such as the JSA state of Pacific Northwest.

If Montesinos is elected, he will meet with the ten delegates from other JSA states three times a year to discuss policy and different initiatives for the program as a whole.

“The reason I want to run is because there is a lot of things I want to change. I love the organization on a larger scale,” Montesinos said.
One of the changes he would like to try to implement would be experimenting with new styles of debate.
“I would also try to do different styles of debate, and not just stick to the same format. It would be cool to mix it up every once in awhile,” Montesinos said.
Montesinos and Silverman currently hold regional positions as mayor and senator of the Golden Gate region. Montesinos said that as mayor, he is responsible for planning one day mini-conventions. He has run two conventions so far, and another is planned for March 1.
“At these events, you have a huge turnout from the region who come together to debate different controversial issues or political topics,” Montesinos said. “It is quite an enticing day for political discussion and discourse.”
His position as the mayor gives him a better chance of winning NorCal Governor this year, according to Montesinos.
“The other people are very qualified, so we will see how it turns out at the end of the day,” Montesinos said.
Kumar and Silverman are both running for Lieutenant Governor, the second highest position. The Lieutenant Governor’s job is to handle the JSA Senate and to oversee the Expansion Department, focusing on growth.
The other students are running for positions in the Golden Gate region of JSA. Papuc and Finley are running for Senator, Garay for Mayor, and Sadrieh for Vice Mayor. The Golden Gate region is the biggest in JSA because it has the most chapters.
According to Papuc, the regional positions make up a cabinet that work to improve JSA on a smaller more direct level.
“[The Cabinet’s] job is to keep basically to keep it cohesive.” Papuc said, “As a senator, I really want to reach out to the chapters and make the Golden Gate region closer.”
There are three large conventions a year. Fall State and Spring State take place in Santa Clara and the delegates debate a variety of topics. The Winter Congress takes place in the Sacramento Capital and the delegates create, discuss, and pass bills. The election for positions will be held at Spring State over the weekend of April 4.
Montesinos founded Redwood’s JSA chapter three years ago because of his interest in politics. He was the president of the club for two years, but this year he handed the position over to Kumar.
Montesinos and Kumar said they have met many interesting people through JSA. At the last convention hosted in the California capital, the keynote speaker was Janet Napolitano, who is currently the president of the University of California system, was formerly governor of Arizona, and also the former secretary of Homeland Security.
“You truly meet extraordinary people and lifelong friends that are very much like you: politically minded individuals,” Montesinos said. “It is a good atmosphere for kids who are really interested in politics.”