Every year, a select group of juniors are selected to travel to Trine University in Angola, Ind. to attend Hoosier Girls’ State, sponsored by the American Legion Auxiliary.
According to http://www.boysandgirlsstate.org/girls.html, this program “is a nonpartisan program that teaches young women responsible citizenship and love for God and Country. Since the inception of the Girls State program in 1937, nearly one million young people have had the opportunity to learn first-hand how their state and local government works.”
Mr. Tom Clark, Social Studies, and several other Social Studies department members choose participants based on merit and leadership skills. Last year, Duaa Hijaz (12) was chosen as a delegate and now works on helping and informing the girls who are nominated to attend this summer.
“[Girls’ State] is one of the highest honors a junior girl can receive. [The program] also teaches girls our age who will go into other government classes [in the future] what people do in government and how it works. It is a great experience where you get to meet a ton of girls your age,” Hijaz said.
Junior girls Frances Kornelik, Ruth Chen, Payal Bhatt, Sarah Spivak, Kylee Freckelton, Alexandra Idalski, Kelly Shelton, Christine Kutka and Nicole Geer were all chosen to attend the program, which will take place June 19 to June 25 .
“Last year I took APUSH with Mr. Clark and he mentioned that I showed some leadership skills in the class, and then he nominated me for a position. I got an application from my guidance counselor who helped me fill it out and then I was accepted,” Freckleton said.
The delegates chosen will participate in a mock government during the week and will work together with students and staff from all across the state building relationships and experiences.
“You’re kind of thrown into a group of people where you learn to work together. [Girls State] looks really good on college applications and I think it will be a good experience for me to step out of my comfort zone,” Kornelik said.
