Girls State Forever!

My Girls State Experience
Allison Pavlicek
Dickinson High School
Dickinson, North Dakota

Girls State is a nonpartisan program of the American Legion Auxiliary that teaches young women responsible citizenship. High School girls who have completed their junior year spend an intensive week of study, working together as self-governing citizens at Auxiliary-sponsored Girls State programs in every state (with the exception of Hawaii). For more information, visit the Girls State website.

The memories that I made at Girls State will stay with me forever. From the moment that I arrived at the University of North Dakota until the exact hour of boarding the bus to head home, I was busy participating in activities, learning about the functioning of North Dakota's government, or interacting with my new Girls State friends from towns across the state.

I am now willing to admit that I initially agreed to attend Girls State without any expectations of gaining anything from the program at all. However, after those six days in June, I am glad that I went on that six hour bus ride to experience the friendships and opportunities that I had at Girls State. I am grateful for the American Legion Auxiliary for sponsoring the Girls State program because I believe that it makes a difference for the girls that attend each year.

During the first few days of Girls State, I wasn't sure if I would become an active participant in the elections and campaigns. Yet I felt a confidence boost right away, when I found out that my tryout for a position on the Flickerflash newspaper led to me being selected as the newspaper's copy editor. As the copy editor, I attended newspaper meetings, read and typed articles, selected articles to be assigned to reporters, and wrote an editorial.

Later, I took the advice of the counselors and advisors and got involved. In my "city" I was elected as an alderwoman to aid in my city's functioning, and in my "county" I was voted as the Superintendent of Schools. When "state" elections began, I started a campaign to run for the Flickertail state's Superintendent of Public Instruction.

Since the state superintendent was a nonpartisan position, I was not directly affiliated with my assigned political party, the Federalists. (The other political party was the Nationalists, but both had made-up platforms for party issues). To run for superintendent, I had to get 60 people to sign a petition. Then, I participated in a Whistle Stop Campaign, in which I dressed up and campaign in order to earn more votes. That night, I wore a cape and a color-coordinated outfit to become the "Super" Superintendent. I also made up a cheer specifically for the event.

In the next few days, I continued to campaign for the state superintendent position by participating in four questioning sessions by groups of Girls State voters and by giving a speech for the voters, as well. Unfortunately, I did not win the superintendent position, but I gained a lot in terms of leadership skills, government knowledge, and self-confidence.

Overall, I look back on my week at Girls State, and I can picture the intelligent young women that I met there, along with the information that I had learned. Even though I can no longer return as a Girls Stater, I look forward to next year, when I can hopefully go back as a Girls State junior counselor.