Maryland Student Legislature

Hey there,

This weekend, I’ve been away at a Maryland Student Legislature conference at the University of Maryland, College Park. MSL has four conventions a year, and thankfully, most of them are close enough that we can come back to campus for the night, which means that they’re free for us thanks to the funding we receive. Our fourth, known as annual session, is in May, and is held at the State building in Annapolis.

Mainly in MSL, we write and debate our own bills about Maryland law. We can write acts, which have the exact language for how Maryland code should be edited or what parts should be added and removed, and we have resolutions, which are more generally things that dictate government should do something, but now the specific way to implement it. McDaniel students can also get 2 credits for participating in annual session.

We have nine schools that participate, and about 40 people come to the smaller events. We’re hoping to get 100 delegates for annual session in Annapolis. The bills that are passed then get sent to the real Maryland legislature for consideration, which is pretty awesome because we could really make a change in the world. In our 25 year history, we’ve had two bills that have actually been implemented. I really enjoy drafting the legislation, and it’s super fun to see what work other students do and to debate it.

I’m super exhausted, since this has been my third weekend with a convention in a row and normally I catch up and get ahead on schoolwork over weekends, but it’s been worth it. I’m excited to sleep in next weekend though!

Ema