MAR WARS:

We recently traveled to St. Louis for Mid-America’s Fall Regional Convention. Kansas City brought 45 teens, one of the largest turnouts for our council within recent memory! Mid-America as a whole was also able to celebrate, bringing 150 teens together as the largest convention since COVID. We made sure that each and every aspect of the weekend had a Star Wars theme, featuring many costumes, themed programs, and as many puns as possible while on the microphones. We were also so excited to welcome Mercedes Benzaquen, who is currently serving as the 81st Anita M. Perlman International N’siah. We welcomed Mercedes into our Mid-America community, ensuring that we highlighted our deep roots and traditions as the first-ever BBYO region. The main evidence of this is a fierce love for both our own chapters' mascots, but also an equal drive to take home another chapter's mascot until we meet again in the spring. We also had a hard-fought AZAA tournament, with my heart and home Nordaunian AZA #0022 taking home the win with a fitting 22-21 win in the final over St. Louis’ Esperanto AZA. Another highlight was our spirit on Sunday morning before leaving by splitting into AZA and BBG circles to chant and cheer until our voices were completely gone. Throughout the weekend, we were able to weave meaning into this powerful movement with experiences like separates, services, and leadership sessions. We combined this with our high energy and a fun night out at Sky Zone, capping off one of the most successful conventions Mid-America has had in years. 

Mercedes Visit:‍

We got very lucky that, immediately following the convention, Mercedes visited Kansas City, where she was able to connect with even more members. Both of our BBG chapters hosted programs: Saadia BBG welcomed Mercedes for a chapter dinner, and our brand new Heart of America BBG hosted their first program, a BBYO-themed game night. We also had an extremely productive Council Board meeting, thankful for Mercedes’ insight, which was followed the next night by some leadership bonding at dinner and ice cream.

Friendsgiving: 

We had our annual Friendsgiving program, where we catered Chipotle and had a dessert potluck. Over 40 teens attended the program, which once again followed the theme of exceeding turnout expectations. We were able to give thanks to each other for the profound impact we have had on each other, and also give thanks for the amazing order of BBYO! 

Through all of these major programs, our chapters have stayed busy with some exciting programs coming up to close off a strong semester and welcome in our new leadership, and reward hard work by electing our chapter's spring boards as we head into the new year looking forward to welcoming new members through the rush process and also being able to take over 40 Kansas City teens to Philly for IC 2026!