By Emma Smith
The long awaited day has arrived. The first day of the 2025 Youth & Government Conference opened up with an incredibly exciting opening session. Over 900 youth delegates and their advisors flooded into the Raleigh Convention Center ballroom and a buzzing anticipation hung over the milling crowd.
The session opened with a welcome video featuring 2025 youth officers from various program areas. The included officers were our very own youth governor Drew Dimeglio, Jinhee Frecker, Alisha Reynolds Welsh, Sophie Johnson, Anika Pawa, Shrutav Desphande, Kaid Muhammad Myers, and Davis Hall who all shared some advice to delegates for success at this year's conference.
Afterwards, we got to hear a lovely rendition of the national anthem from the very talented Lee Carpenter. We were then surprised with a speech from North Carolina's 76th Governor, Josh Stein, who reinforced that the youth are the future and we are the ones who mold it. From Stein, our 2026 Youth Governor Candidates– Josh Brown, John Queen, and Kyle Pemberton– got to deliver their speeches.
Chris Suggs then took the stage. Suggs is a councilman from Kinston, NC and was the youngest elected official in North Carolina. On stage, he shared that we shouldn't wait to try and make change and it's integral we ignore our fears and start now. We closed out with words from Amber McClure, the YMCA Senior Director of Civic Engagement, and other youth executive officers.
All in all, the first general session of the 2025 conference was an incredible success and has set the precedent for the rest of the conference. Thank you to Josh Stein, Chris Sluggs, Amber McClure, Lee Carpenter, our youth governor candidates, and all of our dedicated delegates!
