Jacob Linder may not be an elected official, but he will still be traveling to Washington, D.C., this month with a group of fellow students at Lakota East High School to get a bill passed into law.

Linder, an 18-year-old senior at Lakota East High School, is the president of the Junior Statesmen of America, a club of about 25 students. The group meets throughout the year to discuss and debate current political topics and delve into how government works.

This President’s Day weekend, the group will make its annual excursion to Washington D.C., for a legislative conference where they will debate key issues of the day at a form of mock government with more than 600 students from several other states. The clubs divide into Houses and Senates and debate and vote on bills written by the members.

“The JSA is a national organization of thousands of students,” said Jeff Flory, a math teacher at Lakota East who is the faculty advisor for the club.

Linder wrote bills that were accepted for discussion in his sophomore and junior years and is writing another bill this year that he hopes will be accepted to the JSA congressional docket. Last year, Linder’s bill proposed drilling in Alaska.

“They don’t have to be as long as a real bill, but you basically just state reasons why this bill is necessary, what problems you see that this bill can address and how it will do so,” Linder said.

During the rest of the school year, the JSA holds formal debates among club members where current events and issues are researched and discussed from varying points of view, Flory said. The group also does “speed debates” where two students are given a topic and give their best arguments for and against the issue in an off-the-cuff style.

The group also goes to two state conferences, one in West Chester Twp. in the fall and one in Columbus in the spring where they debate issues with other clubs from around the state.

Linder said being in the club has been an eye-opening experience to further understanding the world and varying opinions of people in it. He has been accepted to Ohio State University for next year and hopes to pursue a law degree.

“I really like that it gives you a chance to formulate your own opinion,” Linder said. “When I was younger, I always listened to my parents and just went along with what they said. Being in the JSA has made me more aware of current events and because of that I have my own reasoning for my opinions.”

Flory said the ability to constructively debate issues introduces student to how to handle and approach courteous disagreements and proves that politics need not always be so divisive or black-and-white.

“I’ve personally learned there are a lot more ‘shades of grey’ to a lot of issues than people realize,” Flory said. “I’ve had my own personal opinions changed a couple of times by a student making an interesting point that I hadn’t considered before.”