TOWAMENCIN- On a cold January day where the temperature outside hovered in the mid-20s, over a thousand North Penn High School seniors and juniors gathered in the auditorium for the first of two days filled with political discussion, debate, and deliberation. Held every four years since 1976, when it was started by then-SGA advisor Mr. James Finnemeyer, the Simulated Convention returned to the auditorium today, once again transforming North Penn into a hub of political thought ahead of the upcoming November 8th presidential election.

The day started out with opening remarks from NPHS principal Mr. Todd Bauer, who acted as the “Mayor of Towamencin” for convention purposes. In his first year in the North Penn community, Bauer seemed to understand the opportunity that the convention held for students.

“I don’t know how many of you will have the opportunity to do something like this ever again, unless you participate in a real convention,” Bauer stated in his speech.

After Bauer spoke, convention organizer and government teacher Mr. Brian Haley took to the microphone, outlining the intent of the next two days to the auditorium full of students sitting with their history classes beneath hand-drawn state flags.

“The two parties that dominate our system today can’t seem to get it done,” declared Haley, before explaining that the convention would operate under the fictional “Millenial Party,” a departure from the tradition of simulating the process of either the Democratic or Republican party. Working under the image of a bulldog, the focus of the party is to give a voice to a younger generation that feels disconnected from modern day politics, explained Haley.

“It’s your time to step forward and lead, and that’s what we’re trying to give you today,” said Haley, before introducing the day’s special guest speaker: political consultant Wendy Melchior, who is currently working on Marco Rubio’s campaign and who also happens to be the mother of a current North Penn senior.

Using music as a metaphor throughout her speech, Melchior urged all of the student delegates to embrace this convention because “this is an experience that you can’t buy. To be able to express yourself, to learn, to hear, and then to argue it out in a productive way is a fabulous thing.”

Following Melchior’s speech, the convention appointed Katie Solomon as permanent convention chair and JT Monserrat as temporary convention chair.

Solomon, who is also the SGA president and certainly no stranger to planning events with the hope of getting many students involved, views the convention as a great way for students to get involved in the political process.

“When I got [to the first planning meeting for the convention] I was just sucked in by the passion and the energy and the idea that we can really get a school of this size engaged in something that can have real-world benefits,” said Solomon.

Temporary chair Monserrat echoed the goal of getting his classmates interested in the upcoming election.

“This is all built around facilitating debate and getting people involved,” said Monserrat, who went on to describe politics as “a way we can actually get things done.”

The highlight of the first day of the convention was the “open-mic” caucus portion, during which students (acting as delegates from their respective, assigned states) were invited to go up to any of the six microphones stationed around the auditorium and speak about issues outlined on the Millenial Party platform.

Every issue discussed, from raising the minimum wage to controlling ISIS to legalizing marijuana, brought passionate, articulate students up to the microphone to state their opinions. Leaving no doubt that this was, in fact, the Millennial Party, many delegates advanced their opinions using statistics they had looked up on their phones just moments earlier.

“That’s the world we live in,” Haley later addressed the auditorium, in reference to the use of smartphones to do immediate research on topics. “I’m glad you all are taking advantage of that.”

At the end of the discussion of each topic on the platform, delegates participated in a Parliamentary vote, with the winner determined by the audible popularity of “I” and “nay.” Ultimately, the convention voted yes on granting amnesty to illegal immigrants who had not committed a crime, yes on expanding nuclear energy, yes on expanding access to grants for college education but no to making college tuition free, and a resounding yes to legalizing marijuana, among votes on many other issues that many students held strong opinions on.

“I think we need a political convention like this because we need more political participation,” said Millennial Party member Etienne Ayoub, who at times donned a blonde wig and impersonated Donald Trump. “People say ‘I don’t care about politics’, but [they] should care.”

For Mr. Brian Haley, who has been teaching at North Penn since 1999 and involved with the Mock Convention since 2000, the passion that was shown by many students is the ultimate goal of these two days and the culmination of months of hard work.

Preparation for the event, Haley explained, starts during the previous school year, when he meets with the principal just to get the convention on the calendar. When the school year begins and the student planning committee gets involved, the preparation becomes practically nonstop.

“October, November, December, up until 10 o’clock last night, we were working to get it together,” said Haley.

This year, since the convention is not following either major political party, there was the extra work of having to create an entirely new platform. To find out what issues were important to students, all delegates took a survey in their history classes earlier this year in which they were asked to rank their interest in topics from health care to LGBT rights. From there, each member of the planning committee tackled one or two issues and wrote their plank, which was then combined with the other planks to make what became the Millenial Party platform.

As the first day of the convention drew to a close, undeterred by an unplanned fire alarm that went off during a lunch period, Haley eagerly looked forward to the craziness that comes with the second and final day of the event.

“On day two, the different delegations are trying to build coalitions to get their candidate elected, and the energy and the screaming and the politicking is awesome. This place will be rocking,” Haley promised.