Claude R. Batchelder
AMERICAN LEGION POST 72
Alton, New Hampshire
Boys and Girls state
About Boys State
American Legion Boys State is among the most respected and selective
educational programs of government instruction for U.S. high-school students. A
participatory program in which students become part of the operation of local,
county and state government, Boys
State was founded in 1935
to counter the socialism-inspired Young Pioneer Camps. The program was the idea
of two Illinois Legionnaires, Hayes Kennedy and Harold Card, who organized the
first Boys State
at the Illinois State Fairgrounds in Springfield.
American Legion Auxiliary sponsors a separate but
similar program for young women called Girls State.
At Boys
State, participants learn
the rights, privileges and responsibilities of franchised citizens. The
training is objective and centers on the structure of city, county and state
governments. Operated by students elected to various offices, Boys State
activities include legislative sessions, court proceedings, law-enforcement
presentations, assemblies, bands, choruses and recreational programs.
Legion posts select high-school juniors to attend the
program. In most cases, individual expenses are paid by a sponsoring post, a
local business or another community-based organization.
Boys State programs currently exist in all
Legion departments except Hawaii.
As separate corporations, Boys
State programs vary in
content and method of procedure, but each adheres to the same basic concept:
teaching government from the township to the state level.
Tom Brokaw
on Boys State
The Challange
Note to Parents
Post 72
Home