Girls and Boys State…making leaders out of the next generation
Tue, 06/27/2017 - 10:52am
admin
By:
Kendra Jensen, Eagle Intern
Recently, local area youth were selected to attend the 71st annual Minnesota Girls and Boys State camp in the Twin Cities area from June 11th through the 17th. Among those chosen from the Goodridge/Grygla area were Brooke Limesand, Alaina Monson, Kendra Jensen, Logan Merrill and Clayton Irlbeck. Girls and Boys State are week long government learning camps sponsored by the American Legion/American Legion Auxiliary for up and coming high school seniors with an outstanding record in their local communities. Girls State was held at Bethel University in St. Paul Minnesota, while Boys state was on Saint John’s campus in St Cloud. Though these camps were help at two different separate venues, and are mildly different, they both have the same united goal, to give kids a once in a lifetime, hands-on experience learning about our government system and the important roll each branch plays in our society.
To be selected for Girls or Boys State you must first be nominated by your school, then interviewed by your local American Legion officials who will narrow down the nominees and pick who they feel is best suited to represent their area at the camp.
“We all started off the week not knowing what to expect” Brooke Limesand shared, which was a sentiment I, too, felt. As we settled into the auditorium for the first time you could see the look of nervous anticipation on all of our faces. “To be honest, I had no idea what I was getting myself into,” Logan Merrill laughed. When we arrived to campus, the first thing they did was separate us into “cities and counties”. Each “county” had their own dorm building, while each “city” had their own floor in their county’s dorm. The purpose of dividing us into “cities” was to teach us how government works starting with a local level.
Our time at Girls and Boys State was a very patriotic one; we started off every morning’s general assembly by first presenting the colors, then stating the Pledge of Allegiance, followed by singing the Star Spangled Banner, and then closing with a prayer. Over the week, this process became second nature and it became a part of our morning routine, just like brushing our teeth or combing our hair. Our mornings were also filled with many great speakers. American Legion Auxiliary National President, Carol Kottom, was one of the great speakers the girls had the privilege of listening to, while the boys had the honor of hearing Kurt Daubt, speaker of the Minnesota House of Representatives, talk one morning.
After our morning assemblies, we then went into city meetings, where we elected our city officials. Logan Merrill was the Treasurer for his city, Brooke Limesand was appointed City Clerk by her Mayor, and Alaina Monson was her city’s Judge of Election. After we elected our city officials we then went on to run for positions on a county level. Clayton Irlbeck ran to be his county’s Sheriff and he won the election. Once we had our local officials we could then begin to make laws for our cities and counties. Later in the week, those who chose to, ran for State offices and I was a Minnesota Girls State Senator.
Girls State had the unique opportunity to visit the Minnesota State Capitol building and use the Senate and House of representative rooms for a mock congress session. This is a privilege they only let two organizations do in the whole state. Being a senator, I had the honor of taking part in the session and I learned so much about how bills are passed.
All bills that were proposed were written by girls and boy state citizens. Girls state ended up passing two mock bills. One was to make it mandatory to wear a helmet while riding a motorcycle and the other was to add our blood type to our drivers licenses.
While we were there on the Capitol grounds, something happened that I will never forget. We were in the middle of our mock sessions when we were told the Philando Castile verdict came in, and officer Yanez was found not guilty. The courtroom, in which this trial happened, was just a block down from the capitol. We were told we had to evacuate immediately, and that there would be a protest happening on capitol grounds in just a few short hours. Emotions were running high as we all had our own personal opinions on the verdict. Some girls were pleased with the outcome, while others were crying on the Capitol stairs. When we arrived back to our campus we were all told to go into the auditorium. Our Girls State director got on stage and said in a soft tone, “No matter what your personal opinion is, we are in a time of pain in our world and we need to be united now more than ever.” We proceeded to then hold hands as we sang, Let there be Peace on Earth.
Although there were times during our stay at Minnesota Boys and Girls state that maybe weren’t ideal, we all agree on one thing, and that is that this camp was an amazing experience we will never forget. “10/ 10 experience I would recommend to anyone,” Logan Merrill said.” We met so many friends and learned so much about government,” Clayton added. I speak on behalf of all of my fellow Boys and Girl Staters when I say thank you to our local American Legion members for making us informed young men and women, and sending us on this life changing experience we will never forget. We truly thank you from the bottom of our hearts.