Three from AHS heading to American Legion Girls State

But civics program needs more boys to register if it's to continue operating

Learning about local, state and national government might be some of the most valuable knowledge high school students will carry into their futures, as the American Legion Auxiliary (ALA) is fully aware of as they sponsor its ALA Girls State program, counterpart to American Legion Boys State, scheduled to take place June 16-22 at Fort Harrison in Helena. 

“High school students who have completed their junior year are competitively selected and sponsored by American Legion Auxiliary units for this program, where they learn about the political process by electing officials for all levels of state government and actively running a mock government. The participants are assigned to mock cities and either the 'Federalist Party' or 'Nationalist Party,'” the ALA website states. “Assistance from dedicated ALA volunteers ensures the program’s nonpartisan governmental, patriotic, and civic objectives are carried out through interactive learning. Though the week is filled with many learning opportunities, there is always time for fun and the formation of long-term friendships.”

Maureen Watt with the American Legion Auxiliary in Anaconda has been helping the program for about 10 years.

“It’s a program that is sponsored statewide and is government orientated where they go in and learn about the government offices, they learn how to campaign. They will be campaigning, they will be writing bills, there will be some speakers. Usually the governor comes, or a senator comes to speak, but they do have speakers from the political arena coming in,” said Watt, adding that each morning the day kicks off with the students saying the Pledge of Allegiance and a flag raising and then they go to their programs.

Student participants will learn about offices that pertain to county government, and state offices like governor, lieutenant governor, secretary of state, attorney general, and they also the Supreme Court. They have bills that they can write and learn to present and vote on, and they even have a mock Supreme Court trial. 

Two of the girls from Montana are then chosen to attend Girls Nation in Washington, D.C., all expenses paid by the American Legion.

All student participants must be a junior in high school and the program is only available for that year. Unfortunately, if there isn’t a certain percentage of boys signed up by May 15, the event will be canceled.

Watt added that as a representative of the American Legion she is slightly concerned that in the future the program might get squashed due to a lack of participation. But for now, the educational program is moving along.

“It’s a good leadership training program. It’s also a program that later on in life – if you look back in history there’s been many of our presidents that have participated in the Boys State program,” Watt said. “From what I’m hearing from people [that] when employers from larger companies see that you were a Boys or Girls State attendee, it sticks in their mind. They’ve had some leadership training. They’ve had some knowledge of how to work in groups. It does help when you go to look for scholarships for college. If they’ve attended Girls’ and Boys’ State it may not get you a point, but they will remember they went to a week-long program on their own.”

Zoe Hoscheid, of the three students from Anaconda Junior/Senior High School participating in Girls State this year along with Camy Hoiland and Nataleigh Siders, first became involved through her honors history teacher, Megan Casey. 

“When she was talking about it, I thought that I’d be interested in it, but I had no idea what to expect until I signed the paper – but I’m really glad that I did. So, I was hoping that I’d go to this and I’d have a one-up in the future,” she said, adding that her future plans involve going to law school.

Future plans for Hoiland include moving to Missoula for college and then pursuing a bigger city after she graduates. 

“I would like to go to a big city where I can become a firefighter. I heard getting hired in a big city is kind of hard and I think having a lot of leadership experience would help. I’m trying to get into as many things as I can in high school and college to give me experience and I thought this would be a good one,” she said.

Asked why it’s important to be knowledgeable about politics this day-and-age, Hoiland responded, “You wouldn’t expect how we’re juniors in high school and to be involved in politics, but even now in our honors history class we talk about politics every single day. And I feel like for us going, it’ll be helpful, our having the knowledge over everybody else.”

She added, “Throughout your whole life you need to know politics. You need to know what’s going on in the world. Getting a nice head start over everyone – just taking a government class could help a lot.” 

For more information or to register for American Legion Boys State and American Legion Auxiliary Girls State, visit the American Legion Montana website, www.mtlegion.org/americanlegionboysstate.html.