Every Friday at 3 o’clock for years, Lakota East students would gather in a small classroom covered wall to wall in political propaganda, memes, and posters. There would be a podium with a gavel resting on top of it before the East club president smacks it against the hardwood creating three distinct loud bangs. The Junior State of America (JSA) was now in session.
JSA was the second oldest active club at East right behind the mathematics club, Mu Alpha Theta. JSA was a club renowned by most students and teachers as East’s “debate club”.
JSA was a club where students could come and voice their opinions through multiple different styles of debate. The club would start out with a discussion prompt and students would take different views and sides of the prompt then argue why they view it as such. One discussion prompt from last year was “Should Artificial Intelligence be regulated”. Students took sides as both “Affirmative (for)” and “Negative (against)”. Students would take turns providing their opinions on the topic and providing proof from sources they have found. Former president, 2024 Lakota East graduate, Jesse White claimed that the club was a place for all students to safely debate their views.
“[JSA] was a great way to get high school students to voice their opinions, debate, and form connections,” White told Spark. “It was also a great way to build up your confidence and speech.”
According to a club attendee Cecily Hrenko, JSA was a place that felt safe and welcoming. “It was my favorite club (…) the atmosphere in general was amazing,” Hrenko told Spark. “You felt really welcomed and it was a great place to come and make friendships.”
Over the course of the summer, the JSA organization decided to disband all chapters and end the club. The organization decided to disband due to reported financial instability after the COVID-19 pandemic. Former East JSA vice president Riley Dexter said that the financial instability was not shocking news to her.
“I always knew we had some money issues because we were supposed to give out more scholarships and then there was a call with the adult staff who decided to shut down the organization due to the financial instability” Dexter told Spark.
JSA was mainly an adult run organization which included a full-time adult staff alongside the students. However, once news had spread about the fallout of JSA, students of the club were determined to not let the mission die out.
Former cabinet members of JSA decided to band together to rebrand and revive JSA and turn it into a new club, the Civic Leaders of America (CLA).
“I really wanted to keep CLA alive because it is so similar to JSA (…) I feel like it would be such a sad thing to let go,” said current CLA president Dexter.
The club is not only new to East, but completely new everywhere. It was created in July 2024 and is working on building new chapters, schools that offer the club, across Ohio.
CLA is very focused on expanding as a club and spreading their mission. JSA used to have conventions where members from different chapters would come to one place, sometimes in Washington D.C. and sometimes in Ohio, to have bigger debates and explore more of JSA culture.
CLA plans to do something similar and host what they call, “mini-cons”. It will be like the JSA conventions however it will have fewer chapters, be after school, and will be hosted in schools instead of renting out spaces. The mini-cons are mainly focused on spreading the word of CLA. Besides mini-cons CLA plans to pull in funds through bake sales and merch.
Past members, Hrenko and White, have expressed their support for the newfound club. JSA had been seen as dated and needed to adjust with the times according to White.
“I have 100% support behind CLA (…) it’s new and refreshing. Unfortunately JSA had to go” White said. “You have to evolve with time, and JSA was falling behind. It was a 90 year old organization.”
CLA, although different from JSA, still plans to meet every Friday immediately after school in Mr. Warren’s room 228. CLA plans to continue having JSA-like debates with club president Dexter at the front of the room mediating. While the organization of JSA is over, its mission and legacy will continue with CLA.
