The Davy Crockett Statesman’s Student Congress Overview

In conjunction with THEA’s Rally Day, our chapter devoted to speech and debate activities for home schoolers, Christian Communicators of Tennessee sponsors the Davy Crockett Statesman’s Student Congress Tournament. In the Davy Crockett Statesman’s Student Congress, homeschooled students are lawmakers in a mock Congress setting where they participate in each session based on a basic knowledge of parliamentary procedure, the standard protocol of legislative bodies. This event also allows students to develop their speaking and presentation skills, and their logic. It also causes students to become aware of current events and develop a Christian response to these events.

Here is the website for our Davy Crockett Statesman’s Student Congress tournament.

Student Congress teaches and trains students in the basic procedures by which governmental bodies within a Republic operate whether a City Council, County Commission, State Legislature or the US House of Representatives and Senate. It is an exercise in applied Civics.

This is a fun and challenging opportunity for students to develop research, logic, and speaking skills in a large group setting, often defined as an individual debate in the context of a large group.

Student Congress is an activity for both new and experienced students. Students new to Congress find it a great introductory step into the world of speech and debate in a fun group setting. Experienced students hone their skills of presenting evidence in a concise, yet persuasive way, along with strengthening their logic and argumentation skills.

Christian Communicators of Tennessee, CCT, sponsors this homeschool Student Congress in conjunction with THEA’s Rally Day at our Tennessee state Capitol. There are two divisions of students participating. The Junior Varsity, ages 8-12, have one session on Rally Day. Their Congress concludes following their Awards Ceremony.

The Congress Round for the Senior Varsity students, ages 13 + up, takes place in the Senate Chamber of the Capitol Tuesday afternoon following the Rally for all home schoolers in the House of Representatives Chamber and a lunch break. A Chick-Fil-A catered lunch takes place down the hall in the Legislative Lounge of the Capitol when the Rally concludes. Chick-Fil-A catered lunch can be ordered at this link beginning January 2, 2023.

The Congress Round for the Junior Varsity students, ages 8-12, takes place in the Legislative Lounge following lunch for homeschoolers. The Legislative Lounge as mentioned above is just down the hallway from the House of Representatives Chamber, site of our morning Rally. 

Preparation for CCT’s Student Congress

 Prior to Tuesday's Congress sessions, students research and write their own pieces of legislation, both bills and resolutions, written in keeping with our US Constitution, dealing with issues they are interested in and about which they would like to discuss and debate in their congressional sessions. These are issues they determine will better the society in which we live, just as our state and U.S Senators and Representatives. In the Student Congress tournament, student-legislators speak in favor or against the student-initiated legislation based on their research and preparation using proper parliamentary procedure. Instruction and information covering the details regarding Student Congress are available on  Student Congress website at https://studentcongress.hoeschooldebate.net.

The bills and resolutions written by the students are vetted, by the Student Congress Tournament Director and are posted on the Student Congress website for students to review, research and study.

To debate and discuss the bills and resolutions, students review them determining their position on the issues involved, study the issues, and then find, prepare, and bring evidence to support both a Pro and Con position. The reason it is helpful to gather evidence on both sides of an issue presented in a bill or resolution is so that you have the opportunity to speak regarding bills or resolutions that are heavily supported on the opposite side of the issue. Students use parliamentary procedure to make motions and propose amendments, as they debate, clarifying their position and advocating for or against the bills, amendments, and resolutions.

Judges score each student legislator based their presentation and argumentation ability (organization, content, logic, and documented support), speaking technique (oral and physical presentation and style), knowledge of parliamentary procedure, and overall participation, i.e. their number of times to speak on legislation. Judges use our Student Congress Ballot to record their evaluation of the students presentations. A link to the Student Congress Ballot is on the Student Congress website.

In each session of Congress, the Tournament Director or one experienced student will act as the Presiding Officer directing the discussion, debate, and voting in the Chamber. Preparation is definitely facilitated by learning about parliamentary procedure. On the website at the Student Congress Overview Tab there is a link to a Table of the Most Frequently Used Parliamentary Motions and a link to an Easy Chart of Parliamentary Procedures. Robert's Rules of Order is the definitive book on parliamentary procedure.