This summer, three junior girls and nine junior boys from LHS will be participating in Girls and Boys State, respectively; the conference will be hosted by Eastern Illinois University and take place from June 13-19 for the boys and June 21-27 for the girls.

Sarah Broughton, Maddie Guiard and Gabby Haws will represent LHS at the 75th American Legion Auxiliary Girls State. Luke Uransel, Matt Mulligan, Cam Hayes, Brad Deberry, William Engfer, David Stone, Zac Clausen, Alex Carter and Cam Chen will represent LHS at 80th American Legion Boys State.

The Boys and Girls State website describes the event as a potentially eye-opening opportunity for students interested in politics: “American Legion Boys State and American Legion Auxiliary Girls State are the premier programs for teaching how government works while developing leadership skills and an appreciation for your rights as a citizen. As a participant in the program you, will run for office, learn public speaking, create and enforce laws and actively participate in all phases of creating and running a working government in this exciting and fun summer program.”

Broughton is looking forward to furthering her knowledge of the U.S. government while also getting more involved in the program by running for office.

“I thought it would be interesting to see how the government was run and running for an office while I am there,” said Broughton, who wants to make the most out of her unique oppurtunity. “I think it is going to be cool to meet new people and run for office. And they have a ton of speakers coming in. I might go big and go for governor.”

The path to Girls State seemed almost destined, as Broughton’s neighbor and dad both participated Boys State when they were in high school. Their positive feedback created an interest in attending and ultimately helped influence her decision to attend the conference.

“[My dad] definitely had high praise for it. He loved going to it; he learned a lot,” Broughton stated. “I didn’t need much more convincing after that.”

Broughton isn’t the only attendee with family ties to the event; Luke Uransel’s older brother Brett participated in the 2014 Boys State program, Gabbie Haws’ older sister enjoyed her experience and Cam Chen’s uncle was a part of the Oregon Boys State in the past.

Chen, who wants to confirm his interest in pursuing a political science degree in the future, also hopes to further his leadership skills by running for office and spending time with leaders from all around the state.

“I’d definitely say the leadership aspect and I’m looking to possibly major in political science so that would be cool a cool experience,” stated Chen. Student Council, basketball and ACE are among the many groups where  he could apply his newfound leadership skills. “I wanted to go out of my comfort zone a little bit. The interview process was one of my first interviews. That was a cool experience in itself. The leadership aspect is something I can definitely take away from it.”

Though the program puts a lot of emphasis on the U.S. government, those attending don’t necessarily have to be interested in politics.

All of the participants had to go through a rigorous application process ending with an interview with the area’s American Legion post.

“There was a Google form online, you had to fill that in. It was like ‘What’s your name, how old are you,’ and then there was a section that said ‘Why do you want to apply to Girls State’ and that was like a little essay, but it didn’t have to be more than two or three sentences,” said Guiard. “They reviewed the application and then everybody got an interview with the American Legion. There were three ladies and they asked you ‘What do you know about girls state? Why do you want to do it? Why should we pick you? Typical interview questions.’”