YCT-SFA receives Chapter of the Year statewide award

Just recently, the Young Conservatives of Texas at SFA (YCT-SFA) organization received the Chapter of the Year Award. This statewide award is applicable to the chapter that has shown the most progress through its activities and achievements of the past year. They have not received this award since 2004, and it has lifted the spirits of the chapter members drastically. 

Young Conservatives of Texas is a politically-based organization first established statewide in 1980. It began as the national organization of Young Americans for Freedom (YAF), but then broke off into state-sized partitions as to more directly address problems through a more focused approach. 

This organization has “held countless events, and really turned their chapter around in the course of a year,” Hunter Wright, chapter chairman, said. Wright has been involved with the organization since the spring of 2011. 

Ten members, most of whom are now officers, attended a convention in March, which got the members excited to improve the organization. The chapter resolved to win the award after the convention, and now their hope has become a reality. 

Of the seven currently active chapters around the state, including the University of Texas and Texas Tech University, YCT-SFA had to fight to earn this award. Wright said that even though other chapters have more members, the SFA chapter has “more dedicated members.”

“Now [we’re] getting recognized by the state instead of as ‘just another chapter,’” Wright said. “We took a chapter that hasn’t really been there for years,” and increased it tenfold within an incredibly short amount of time. 

This past year, they hosted their H₂O Recruitment, which involved handing out water bottles with labels that listed information about the rising National Debt, in order to try to recruit some younger members. Last semester, they campaigned for Travis Clardy, (who was elected as the new Texas state representative) and they put on the “Obama Wheel of Misfortune.” The “Obama Wheel of Misfortune” was hosted in order to demonstrate just how “the current administration has failed... and we, as students can make an impact,” Wright said. The sections of the wheel included issues with a stance held upon during elections, including the economy, immigration, and healthcare. Questions were then asked upon the wheel spinning turns. 

“When looking at the policy agenda of the Obama Administration, it’s evident that his domestic policy, as well as foreign, have been ‘epic fails,’” Karina Erickson, legislative director said. She went on to say that with this event, there was “hope the student body [would] come to the same realization as YCT.” 

This chapter hosts many socials in order to maintain a fun and informative atmosphere, including their celebration for President Ronald Reagan’s birthday. This group is very activist-based, and is constantly on the move. They had several members even attend the 33^rd Annual YCT State Convention at the U.S. Capitol in February.

YCT-SFA strives to further inform the student body of upcoming elections, current policies, and voting impacts. They continue to stand firm by their conservative values and promoting campus activism. 

As a recent post by one of its officers on the Young Conservatives of Texas SFA Facebook page reads, “We are grateful to have received Chapter of the Year, but it is only a stepping stone to getting back to the greatness that once was. Thanks to all the members that are working to make us a great chapter. It is not the time to slow down, but instead the time to act, to grow and become an even better group.”