From November 3-5, seven Troup High students traveled to the Capitol in Atlanta to participate in the 80th Annual Georgia Youth Assembly.

The event is a three-day mock legislature where students go to the Capitol to learn the legislative process and what it is like to be a legislator. The Tigers were able to discuss topics with state administrators, elected officials and other students from across the state.

During the assembly, students were allowed to present their own bills as part of the mock legislative process. Students from across Georgia submitted about 1,000 bills, and the top 100 were brought to the full House or Senate floor for full debate and votes.

One of the bills introduced by Troup students was debated and passed by their fellow Georgia students.

The passed bill introduced by Troup County students was inspired by Mary Joy Moosman and Hadilee Arnold, who were thrown from a vehicle during a crash on Hogansville Road in May. The accident killed Moosman and seriously injured Arnold.

THS students Sophie Billingslea and Ann Muhr represented the bill as part of the Senate and House mock drill.

“Our teacher wrote it,” Billingslea said. “It was to use seat belts in the back seat. I was one of those who went up and represented the bill. “Basically, let’s talk about it and influence everyone to vote for it.”

“Sophie represented it in the Senate and got it passed there. Then we exchanged and introduced the Senate bills in the House,” Muhr said. “I was in the house and they brought him to my committee, so I volunteered to represent him there.”

Students said there was debate and opposition to the bill, but it was passed.

However, some of the less serious bills passed overwhelmingly.

Muhr said there was a bill to make gambling a state holiday and turn the Capitol into a casino for a day.

“He won by a landslide. Many people voted in favor. I was one of them. However, there were many serious ones. You could tell a lot of people were taking it very seriously,” Muhr said.

Jada Menefield said it felt good to represent Troup High.

“It felt really good because you could tell the schools there were high caliber. “They knew what they were doing,” Menefield said. “So the fact that they chose us to represent Troup and be on the same level as those students, it felt really good.”

The event was a fun learning experience for all students involved.

“I feel like I learned a lot about how government works in Georgia,” Muhr said. “Being able to pretend to do it was a different level of learning about it.”

“It really put it into perspective. How the bill gets from the House to the Senate and how it starts in a committee, and how we discuss it and it would work at higher levels of state government,” Menefield said.

“I loved it. It wasn’t exactly what I expected it to be. “I thought it was going to be more of a real debate, but I really loved it and I hope we can do it again because it was a lot of fun and I felt like I learned a lot,” Muhr said.