Newspaper Page Text
The ADVANCE, March 29, 2023/Page 8A
Stye Aiiuancg
VHA
continued from page 1A
the school’s weekly chapel
service on Friday March
24, where Headmaster Jeff
McCormick presented her
with the award’s official
gavel.
“The staffers at Har
vard Model Congress are
always looking for those
who go above and beyond
in the work they do in their
committees,” McCormick
told chapel attendees.
“Each year, these staffers
also look for those who
were the best delegates in
the committee. We’ve won
the Best Delegate award
two other times before
this year - Briley Braddy
won it, Bryson Henriott
won it - and so today, we
celebrate Rylee Toole for
winning the award this year
for her work in the Media
Committee.”
He continued, “We are
so very proud of the entire
team, and especially Rylee
for this incredible award.
She has worked hard for all
of her academic career here
at Vidalia Heritage Acad
emy, and she did the same
thing while she was there
at Harvard. This is well-de
served, and this young lady
has an incredible future
By Rebecca Grapevine
Staff Reporter
Capitol Beat News Service
Georgia’s banks are
in a strong position in the
wake of the failure of two
large American banks this
month, the deputy com
missioner of the state agen
cy that oversees banks said
Tuesday.
“The state of banking
overall in this country is
very strong, and that’s es
pecially the case in the state
of Georgia,” Bo Fears of the
Georgia Department of
Banking and Finance told
the state Senate’s banking
committee.
The problems that
caused the collapse of Sig
nature Bank and Silicon
Valley Bank (SVB) do not
plague Georgia banks,
Fears said, pointing to
three major distinctions
between the failed banks
and Georgia’s banks.
First, SVB and Signa
ture’s business was heavily
concentrated in the high-
tech industry. The banks
were focused on serving
fintech (financial technol
ogy) companies, venture
capitalists who supported
fintech, and cryptocurren
cy companies, Fears said.
“In Georgia, we don’t
ahead of her.”
“It was really, really
fun. Everyone I met was
super nice, and it was a
great experience,” Toole
commented on her work at
Harvard Model Congress.
About Model Congress
Harvard Model Con
gress is a government-
simulation event run
entirely by Harvard un
dergraduate students and
held by Harvard Univer
sity in Boston, Massachu
setts, every February. This
simulation allows high
schoolers throughout the
nation to travel to Boston
and gain hands-on experi
ence and knowledge as a
United States member of
Congress.
Over 1500 high school
students fro all over the
United States attended
in 2023. The participants
were split into several com
mittees dealing with the
executive, legislative, and
judicial branches of the
American government, as
well as several lobbyist and
media groups.
Vidalia Heritage Acad
emy first began attend
ing the Congress in 2013,
when three freshmen and
one sophomore traveled
to Boston for the first time.
Since then, the school has
have that concentration,”
he said. “We’re much more
diversified. I’m unaware
of any Georgia state-char
tered bank that even banks
a crypto-company.”
Second, 90% or more
of SVB and Signature
Bank’s deposits were unin
sured, Fears said. No Geor
gia bank comes close to
approaching that very high
level of uninsured deposits,
he said.
Third, like most banks,
SVB and Signature were
heavily invested in securi
ties.
“When the interest
rates were relatively flat,
that was fine,” Fears said.
“But within the last year,
when there have been the
interest rate raises, that’s
created unrealized fosses -
so essentially paper fosses
in the bond portfolio.”
Just before its collapse,
SVB liquidated a large por
tion of its security portfolio
and the fosses were real
ized - to the tune of about
$1.8 billion. Public notice
of those fosses helped fuel
the run on the bank and its
failure soon thereafter.
Most banks have un
realized fosses on their se
curities portfolio, like SVB
grown to over 15 partici
pants, ranging from grades
10-12.
Her Experience
Toole, daughter of
Tony and Sharon Toole,
served on the program’s
Media Committee, where
she informed delegates and
chaperones of the news of
the happenings throughout
the week. “My committee
is a lot more lenient than
some of the other com
mittees because I’m not
in session all of the time
[we’re there] - that’s kind
of the difference,” she ex
plained. “I get to report on
the sessions. So basically I
would have to meet with
my committee every time
that sessions would begin.
We would sign in, and then
[our leaders] would say,
‘OK, you’re free to go do
whatever you want to.’”
During her time in the
committee, she worked on
four articles, 3 of which
made publication during
the event. “For my first
project, I wanted to write
an article about the House
of Representatives and
Senate and some of the
comparative committees
they both had - like, they
both had Judiciary and Fi
nancial Committees - so I
wanted my first article to
did, Fears noted. But those
fosses - unlike in the case
of SVB - continue to re
main unrealized.
“Our [Georgia] banks
have done a very good job
of accounting for that inter
est rate risk by hedges or
other mechanisms, so they
don’t have that same expo
sure,” Fears told the com
mittee.
In addition, since the
two banks’ collapse, the
Federal Reserve has estab
lished a program to provide
the face value of securities
rather than the lower mar
ket amount if a bank needs
the securities as collateral
in order to prevent an SVB-
like situation from happen
ing again.
That new program pro
vides further guarantees
that other banks do not
face the same risks SVB
and Signature did, Fears
said.
“This is very different
than the [2008] recession,”
he said. “I'm very confi
dent in the safety and the
strength of the banking sys
tem in the state of Georgia.”
This story is available
through a news partnership
with Capitol Beat News
Service, a project of the
Georgia Press Educational
Foundation.
tell what they were begin
ning to work on and com
pare and contrast what
they were both doing at the
same time,” Toole said.
“My second article
that I worked on was titled
‘Menstruation, Human
Desire, and the Importance
of Power.’ It was an opinion
piece [inspired when] I sat
in [as a spectator] on the
World Health Organiza
tion [during a session] and
they brought up the topic
of menstruation. So, all
these delegates, who repre
sented countries, would go
up and create bills basically
advocating or not advocat
ing for certain menstrua
tion products to be distrib
uted and all the logistics of
that,” Toole said. “I sat in
on that because I think it
is really interesting and I
think it is really important.”
The third individual
piece she worked on was
not finished during the
Congress, but served as a
valuable learning experi
ence, according to Toole.
“It was an interview piece,
and I interviewed all the
chaperones, and even
though I didn’t get it pub
lished, it was a really, really
wonderful experience to
get to see their insight [on
the experience] because
they’re not really in [the
program]—they’re just
the chaperones and they’re
there for the students. They
are there for the experi
ence, but they are not really
participating themselves,”
she remarked. “So, I got to
talk with some really, really
cool people. I talked with a
teacher from Puerto Rico
who was representing the
only school from Puerto
Rico that they have at Har
vard Model Congress. I
also talked with a woman
from Massachusetts and it
was really interesting to see
all their different perspec
tives.”
The annual crisis simu
lation during the event gave
Toole insight on true jour
nalism, as she explained,
“Actually, I did end up pub
lishing a third article. Every
year they have a simulated
crisis, and this year they
actually had three different
crises. My fellow delegate
[and VHA classmate] Lily
Williams and I chose to re
port on the global warming
simulated crisis. We pub
lished that co-dependently
and it was a really fun expe
rience. It’s definitely stress
ful because you have to
stop everything that you’re
doing and think on your
feet really, really quickly.”
Toole is also taking
away many lessons from
the experience. “I think
that Harvard is really, really
intimidating, but it’s really
what you make of it. After
a really hard session or if
someone had a bill that
they did not get passed,
we would go down to the
Cheesecake Factory and
get some cheesecake. It
was a really grounding ex
perience to be in this really
high academic space and
then be like ‘OK, I get to
have cheesecake at the end
of it; that’s what I’m look
ing forward to.’ So, I think
just having little rewards
and being able to balance
things is important, and
that is a lesson I can take
with me everywhere,”
Toole summarized.
Parents’ Reflections
Toole’s parents also
commented on the award,
saying that they were both
overjoyed, but not shocked
at the accomplishment.
“Obviously, this is
one of many accomplish
ments that we are proud of
Rylee for,” her father com
mented. “We are excited to
know that she was the gavel
winner for being the top
delegate in her media com
mittee. We’re super excited
about that, but we are not
shocked. She’s done a lot.
Last week she [continued
to be the] reigning State
Champion in Literary for
two years in a row, so we’re
also excited about that, and
she continues to amaze us
with everything she does.
We just couldn’t be more
proud of her.”
Rylee’s mother noted,
“I just want to say we give
God all the glory for this
child. She has absolutely
been a blessing. With any
obstacles she faces, she hits
them head-on. She puts
her trust in God and I am
just constantly lifting my
praises to Him for her.”
Honorable Mentions
Three other Harvard
Model Congress partici
pants from VHA received
Honorable Mention for
the Top Delegate awards
within their respective
committees: Emily Jarriel,
House of Representatives
Financial Committee; Ca
son Jones, House of Rep
resentatives Select Com
mittee on Intelligence; and
Josie Harrell, House of
Representatives Education
and Labor Committee.
ODDS
Easter
Services—
The Episcopal
Church of the Annun
ciation, 1512 Mead
ows Lane, Vidalia, will
hold their Palm Sun
day Service, Liturgy of
the Palms, on Sunday,
April 2. The church will
be open Monday,
April 3, through
Wednesday, April 5,
from 9:00 a.m. to 6:00
p.m., for individual
participation in the
Stations of the Cross.
Everyone is invited
to attend.
Easter
Services—
The Episcopal
Church of the Annun
ciation, 1512 Mead
ows Lane, Vidalia, will
have their Maundy
Thursday Service on
Thursday, April 6, at
5:30 p.m.
Good Friday ser
vices will be held on
Friday, April 7, at 12
noon and 6:00 p.m.
Easter Sunday ser
vices will be held on
Sunday, April 9, at
8:00 a.m. and 10:30
a.m., with an Easter
Egg Hunt and Recep
tion after the 10:30
service.
Everyone is invited
to attend.
Revival-
Better Together
Christian Community
Church, 202 W.
Church St., Mt. Ver
non, will have Revival
April 10-12, at 7:00
NDS
each night. The
speaker will be Rev.
Arthur Gordon.
Everyone is invited
to attend.
Art Contest—
The new Teacher's
Paw (...with squawks
and claws!) business is
holding an art contest
for middle and high
school students in
Toombs and Mont
gomery Counties to
design their logo. En
tries must be turned in
by Monday, April 3, to
the Downtown Craft
House, 206 Mosely
Street, Vidalia.
For more informa
tion, email Donna
Beall at beall.donna@
yahoo.com.
State bank regulators:
Georgia's banks in very
strong position, not at risk
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