KYA 2020: An Exceedingly Good Precedent in Exceedingly Bad Circumstances

By Tahsen Hossain

The Changes. 2020 has certainly been a trying time. Social distancing in response to COVID-19 has made visiting family or friends, going to school, participating in extracurriculars, and just about anything else involving interpersonal contact far more difficult. In response to concerns about the safety of its participants, KYA has made some major changes to maintain a level of accessibility such that all students willing to participate in these trying times can. Foremost of which is changing the format of KYA to a virtual conference in which participants have been using Zoom calls to attend the webinar-style full-conference assemblies and to participate in debate within smaller committees. The lack of a physical space for the social interactions that essentially make KYA has certainly posed several obstacles for this year’s conference.

The Obstacles. The main obstacle of using a virtual space for large scale meetings is technical difficulties. KYA has already seen many participants disconnect from their meeting due to poor internet quality or the occasional computer crash. This can sometimes lead to participants missing portions of their meetings and it can happen to just about anyone no matter what their role is in KYA, meaning that even chairs and presiding officers were absent from the rooms they assigned (to no fault of their own). In addition, there were a few more nuanced obstacles posed by the use of Zoom rather than in person communication. “Raise your hand if you like pumpkin pie? Now raise your hand anyways even if you don’t” says Chair Zach Susini. He is unfortunately not talking about actually raising hands but rather an online function on zoom. Seems unfamiliar to you? Well, you’re probably not alone. Many of the participants didn’t actually know where the function was or how it worked, and time had to be spent to educate all the participants about the function which made it much harder to adhere closely to a schedule as KYA usually does. But aside from the logistical challenges KYA felt fundamentally different. At the beginning of her Committee, Chair Molly Conway addresses the lack of energy and excitement caused by being stuck behind a screen. “It’s so easy to just zone out when you’re behind a screen” she says as she asks that delegates avoid their phones and other distractions while their cameras are turned off. Throughout the day, well written and prepared speeches take front and center in small committees, but extemporaneous speeches seem to be a bit rarer than they usually would. Chair Kwame Theus voices these concerns in his own committee saying that speaking in a Zoom room is much more intimidating than in a room full of people. And he’s right. The eerie silence following the question “Are there any pros speeches?/Are there any cons?” and the knowledge that once you begin speaking you will be the only person taking up space on the screens of the other participants in the room (when in Zoom’s speaker view) are intimidating. And often in the beginning committees, many chairs struggled to fill the time with pros and cons speeches because of a lack of speakers.

The Response. However, as our Governor Omar Abd-Elhamid said at the beginning of the conference “There is hope”. When Chair Kwame Theus voiced his concerns he was met with a tidal wave of support and reassurance from the room full of delegates, all of whom identified and related with what he had said. Senator Ivan Hargesheimer says “It’s fine if you stutter. People won’t remember that. People will remember the words you’ve said”, encouraging people to speak their minds on the bills on the table. Senator Teagan Foster spoke for the room as she said, “You’re doing great. We’re all having a rough time but we’re gonna get through this and we’re gonna make this fun.” In a way the struggles of being in a virtual space acted as a unifier for many who found solace in the fact that they were all facing the same problems together. “Be honest with y’all. How many of you are wearing your pajamas?” Commonwealth President Justin Mink asks to resounding laughter, smiles, and affirmation from the room. I, admittedly, was wearing a button up shirt over the pajamas I had just woken up in. As the day went on people became increasingly comfortable with the virtual conference. In the second round of debates after the General Assembly delegates became more comfortable with speaking in a virtual space and KYA had reclaimed much of the energy it once wielded. Some particularly creative delegates were actually able to utilize the virtual space to their benefit. Bill Sponsor David Abel wrote An Act Relating To the prohibition of Mountaintop Removal Mining (MTR) which advocates for an end to mountaintop removal out of concern for the environment and because of the virtual medium he has been able to use Zoom’s virtual background feature to display a visual aid for his bill in the form of a looping video of mountaintops being removed via explosives. Later in a Commonwealth House meeting representatives were charged with creating a joke bill, putting the titles in the Zoom’s chat feature which allows people to be involved without actually speaking. The one we argued was An Act to Require Kendrick Lamar to Release an Album by February 2021 or Face Repercussions as proposed by Candidate Chloe Jones (which I would have voted yes for in a heartbeat). A close second was An Act Relating to the Prohibition of Beans. Both resulted in a lot of laughter and I think reminded all in the room how fun KYA can be when people participate freely.

Conclusions. The Y has done an excellent job organizing KYA in this virtual space given the circumstances but the truly incredible feat of this conference has been that throughout all the challenges, students and staff alike have been patient, forgiving and flexible. In every room I’ve sat in on, students have been encouraging each other to speak and share their thoughts. They have been supporting each other in times of doubt and congratulating each other in success. For all Freshman, Sophomores, and Juniors we can certainly hope that next year’s KYA will be in person. But regardless, even if it’s your Senior year and this is your last KYA, I hope it was a memorable one.