By Natasha Singh
Staff Writer
The Junior Statesmen of America, or JSA, arrives as a new club at Westford Academy. Sophomore club president and founder of WA JSA Trisha Kagalavadi, along with other JSA members, spent the summer taking action in order to introduce the club to WA.
“[JSA is] a national organization whose goal is to make students aware of their role and raise them to be leaders in a democratic society,” said Kagalavadi.
The JSA creates competitions for student contributors to have lively debates that stimulate discussions. Students can engage in activities that allow them to express their perspective on current events.
The club is mainly created for students who are interested in politics, government, foreign affairs, law, and education.
JSA functions with local clubs, and consists of nine regions in which their own tournaments are held. These clubs collectively form regions in which they coordinate communication with each other and run regional events annually.
The regions from different states run three large overnight conventions per year, and the national level of general program operations. JSA is a completely student run activity where students participate and progress to be knowledgeable of their role in a democratic society.
The students compete in a one on one discourse that allows mainly any major events to be discussed, and also thought talks which are students advocating their own point of view on a subject.
JSA also provides chances to meet and make friends with scores of other bright, involved students who have similar interests. Along with keeping up with the club in weekly meetings, Kaglavadi’s goal is to inform other students on current events and teach them how the debates work. She said that luckily in Westford’s case, they all have a diverse and politically educated group that are great students for the club.
“Even if you’re not politically aware of the world around you [JSA is] trying to inform you about current events and things like that. So we’re looking for new members to come in,” Kagalavadi said.
JSA meets in room 150 after school on Tuesdays.
