The Daily Delegate

By Nicholas Alvarez

Culture Desk Editor

It was Media’s fourth session. At 5:30 p.m., all of us will clock out and have “Delegation Dinner”, where we’ll get together with our respective delegations to eat out and do other activities. I was sitting with fellow Media members Conrad Wood and Molleigh Draxton of the Westchester Family Delegation. “What do you do for Delegation Dinner?” I asked. 

“We usually walk through Old Town Sacramento and end up in Round Table Pizza” Conrad answered. My delegation – DaVinci – usually did about the same thing.

Molleigh stated that the best part was “being able to hang out with the delegation and just be super chill after a long day of…working in sessions.”

Youth Governor candidate Bader Abusneineh of El Dorado walked by our table, so I asked him the same question.

“We used to go to a karaoke place down the street and do karaoke bar – obviously we don’t use the bar – and we do karaoke…We also say goodbye to our seniors [and say] how much we love them.”

My delegation was breaking away from tradition this year. Around 2 p.m. that day, one of my delegation’s advisors announced to our Discord server a “Pizza Party Cozy Comfy Time Switch Tournament” in a suite two of our advisors sleep in. I’d seen the suite room the night before; it had a tv room that was seperate from the bedroom and a couch large enough to fit six of us.

After session finished, I changed into comfy jeans, my band shirt, and my delegation hoodie. When I went to the suite, many were already gathered around the couch waiting for a delegate to set up his Nintendo Switch so we could play Super Smash Bros. Loud music played from a Spotify queue. Costco pizza and cookies were laid out on counter-tops waiting to be munched on. All three of our advisors, Mrs. McBee, Ms. Creencia, and Mr. K, welcomed us to dig in.

I ate two slices of pizza as I waited for my turn to play. The gaming session was less of a tournament and more of an exercise in 8-player free-for-all shenanigans. I only played (and won) one game before the console owner switched the game to Mario Kart.

The room filled with screams and loud music until Mr. K and Ms. Creencia came in with two small cakes. They were an early birthday surprise for McBee, our lead advisor. We sang her happy birthday and ate some cake before going back to the game.

Again the room flooded with excitement, not for any Youth Governor candidate or recently passed bill, but for a game of Mario Kart. Instead of debating bills, we bickered about Switch controllers. Instead of professional outfits, we wore t-shirts and pajama pants. Instead of a podium, we gathered around a couch. As I felt a sugar crash come over me, I took it all in. This was my last year in Y&G, and it could be a while before I attend a party like this again.

We ended our Delegation Dinner with a couple games of Just Dance before everyone made their way to the convention center to vote and do some of the social activities.

This year’s Delegation Dinner was the ideal Saturday night: eating pizza, playing video games, and spending time with friends. During a weekend defined by politics, bill writing, and a mock election, this was the night we could be kids.