Today we’d like to introduce you to Charles Hou.
Charles, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
Ever since I joined my middle school’s debate team in 6th grade, I have always had a passion for constructive debate and political engagement. I frequently engaged in all sorts of topics, such as universal background checks, standardized testing, immigration, and the UN. Throughout my three years of debate in middle school, however, I never really felt like I had an avenue to actually express and share my thoughts with others in a non-competitive environment which is exactly how JSA caught my eye.
I first learned about JSA during my freshman year of high school when my debate team captain recommended it to us. Despite being completely new to JSA, I instantly fell in love with the idea of being able to speak your mind, engage in activism throughout the community, and meet new people all across the state at exciting state conventions. After a little over two years in JSA, what started as a mere suggestion has become a large part of my high school career; I served as the Chapter President of Jasper High School last year, and I am serving as the Director of Debate for the entire Texas State this year. My JSA journey has come a long way and I am constantly searching for ways to keep contributing and keep enhancing the constructive debating and political engagement that JSA fosters.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
It definitely has not been a smooth road for me; throughout almost every part of my journey, there has been a challenge, an obstacle, or a struggle. When I first walked into the JSA meeting room in my freshman year, JSA was a simple collection of a few politically-minded and debate-oriented people. Other than a few friends and me, there were hardly any people and there was not much excitement. Therefore, when I became the Chapter President the following year, there was a huge challenge of trying to generate more excitement from the incoming freshman class. After a lot of hard work and restructuring, I was thrilled to see that there was much more excitement — all of which translated to a 533% increase in Fall Convention attendance!
Another struggle I faced was during my campaign to be a Senator for Texas JSA. Every year, state-wide elections are held for various legislative or executive positions. I ran a solo campaign for a spot to be the PMC Senator, working day and night to reach out to voters, create interesting graphics, and write a comprehensive platform. Unfortunately, after an incredibly close race, I didn’t end up winning the position. It was pretty devastating for all of my hard work to come up short, but I used my loss as fuel to work harder to get the position of Director of Debate. After several stressful weeks, I was successfully selected for the position I wanted and finally got the opportunity to serve the entire Texas State to my fullest potential.
Please tell us about Junior State of America.
JSA (Junior State of America) is a student-run nonprofit that aims to get students to become politically active and engage in meaningful discourse. JSA is organized at the local, state, and national levels; every student participates in their school’s chapter, which is a part of the larger state JSA, which is part of the larger national JSA. A large part of JSA are the conventions – every year, there are two State conventions and one national convention, held at buildings like the Texas State Capitol or convention centers in Houston or Washington D.C.
The organization is split up into several different states, including Texas, North California, South California, the Ohio River Valley, the Midwest, the Mid-Atlantic, the Pacific Northwest, Arizona, the Southeast, and the Northeast. I personally serve as the Director of Debate for the Texas State, which is the largest out of the many JSA states. As the Director of Debate, I serve as the head of the Debate Department, which is a department in the larger Texas JSA Cabinet; I am responsible for enhancing and monitoring debates, which are a large part of JSA. Because of COVID-19, this year, I am also working with Directors of Debate from all of the states to create a national strategy for online conventions and debates; I am really proud of the body of work we have come up with and I’m excited about the future!
Is there a characteristic or quality that you feel is essential to success?
I think having an open mind has been the most important to my success, for a few reasons; first, being open-minded is essential in a debate. A debate should always have valid arguments from both sides of the aisle, and not being biased to one worldview has helped me become a better debater and has allowed me to create better topics when writing resolutions for debates. Second, being open-minded has allowed me to look past shortcomings and look towards the future, improving my confidence and productivity when times don’t look very good. Finally, being open-minded has contributed to my success by making me more collaborative; I’m never afraid to seek input from other members of JSA, which helps improve my ideas and execution.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.jsa.org
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/juniorstateofamerica/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/JuniorState/
Image Credit:
Charles Hou, Madeline Tsao
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