<p>My S has been nominated by his HS to attend Boy's State, which the school presents as a big honor. Is it?
He is not politically active, and wouldn't have sought this opportunity, but will be attending, as it seemed like a good opportunity - if nothing else - for a week on a uni. campus doing interesting things at no cost :)
We have only the websites to look at - don't know anyone who has every attended, etc.
Does anyone have impressions to share?
Will this be a plus at all for college app?</p>
<p>I attended in the late 60’s. DS attended from same highschool in 2000. He got much more out of it than I did. Teaches the kids how to smooze with peers. </p>
<p>Congratulations. Only one Boy and Girl nominated per HS.</p>
<p>My son really liked it. He’s the quiet, shy type, but he ended up running for an office and getting it. He met some friends that he still keeps in touch with.</p>
<p>I think that the number from the school nominated and accepted to go varies from one area to the next. S went 2 years ago. I think there were 4 others from his school. It was still an honor but more than that it was an awesome experience for him. He was not very political but learned alot about government. He was on a platform committee, ran for one office and lost and ran for another and won. He enjoyed it so much he went back and volunteered last year and probably would have again this year except he had another great opportunity that conflicted. Congratulations to your S, it should be a great time and he will learn a lot!</p>
<p>One of mine went to Girls State:
It seems to vary - the camps are put on by the individual state American Legion. Some states do short camps that don’t seem to capture much attention from the school CGs or anyone else, some are week-long and very worthwhile for a kid to learn to network and build a team.
If your son has been nominated, I see no downside. And yes, it is a plus. Your son’s school has nominated him as “a leader”.<br>
If he’s really into the political part and wants to use this as a stepping stone - ask if he wants to go into the situation ready to start campaigning for himself for higher office? Is so, google. He will find other kids with all the allowed materials ready and campaign speech outlines and ideas. Boys State leads to Boys Nation. (I will end here before the name Clinton shows up)
It’s a fun program even if all your kid wants is 5 days not under your roof!</p>
<p>Thanks for the replies! I don’t want to sound like he isn’t interested - it’s just that he didn’t really know what it was and these days there are zillions of “leadership” opportunities - some that even say your school nominated you - that really aren’t much.
This sounds great and he is getting excited.
I checked again with him, and the school was allowed to nominate two students from a class of about 550, so he is feeling very good about that. Our program is one week long at the public flagship uni and looks very well organized.
I showed him this thread and he said “oh yeah, there’s a college scholarship I can apply for too”
Anyone know anything about the Samsung through Boys’ State?</p>
<p>I don’t remember much about the Samsung scholarship, just that I think when we read about it S wasn’t eligible. Info was available if you google it or review the boys state site. At least it was in our state. The general rule of thumb I came to was that when the program is paid for by someone else it is an honor, when you pay for the program, while it still may be a good experience it is less of an honor and doing research is a good idea.</p>
<p>Bill Clinton went to Boys State IIRC.</p>
<p>My S attended Boys State a few years ago. He is into politics, and it was a great experience for him. He ran for office(and won) and was the campaign manager for another attendee.He got experience speaking before a crowd, etc. The program was well organized. I would recommend it. Does it “look good” for colleges? Sure. But I wouldn’t say it’s a hook.</p>
<p>S went to Boys State two summers ago. He liked it a lot. He enjoyed campaigning for and winning the office of Attorney General. He didn’t apply to be a candidate for Boys Nation because he already had another commitment for that week.</p>
<p>I teach during the summer session on a campus that hosts Boys State and Girls State. The kids I see there appear to my eye to be having a good time - they’re walking to the cafeteria in small groups chatting away (i.e. not texting and walking in solitude) and when I walk past the classrooms, they seem to be engaged and focused. No insider info, though!</p>
<p>Just spoke with the son of a family friend who returned yesterday. His mom had scrounged for a recommendation for him to be accepted. He said that all of the kids from <em>our</em> high school were JROTC members, so he really didn’t see it as an honor. (Nothing wrong with JROTC, it’s just not his thing.) </p>
<p>It sounded as if they all tried to run for these different offices, but few of them took it very seriously. Example: at speech time, nobody had a real speech prepared, so voting was a bit of a popularity contest.</p>
<p>Also, he got tired of the God and Country thing. </p>
<p>But it seems well-regarded in other states.</p>
<p>I think it depends on your state. S did Boys state in 2001 and it was okay, but not great. D did Girls State several years later and it was not much of an experience. With S the American Legion members in our area provided transportation for all the area boys participating which was nice since the school was 7 hours from us. For D, the Legion Auxilary paid for her registration fee and that of the other young lady from our area going. No other support provided and the parents of the other girl and I shared the transportation duties to the site 6 hours away. It’s not nearly the honor in our area that it was when I was in high school.</p>
<p>I did this in high school. Was a great experience, but I was a bit uncomfortable with the religious overtones in ceremonies/songs. Maybe that has changed? The experience with the other students is fabulous!</p>
<p>I went to Girl’s State in '82…I know, the stone ages…and I met lifelong friends there. Funny though, D just graduated and I never heard a word about it when she was a junior. We did see the Boy’s State delgates during thier session at D’s college orientation last week. Had I remembered to look into it D’s junior year, I would have encouraged her talk to her GC about it.</p>
<p>Being selected for Boys State is quite an honor in many parts of the country, and some colleges look favorably on it. (I’ve seen freshman class stats where they note how many Boys/Girls State participants were in the class.) </p>
<p>What you son gets out of it depends on what he puts into it and his attitude. They do learn a lot about government and how politics work - the good and the bad. In our state, it is free, so compared to other leadership opportunities, it’s a great deal.</p>
<p>Yes, there is a lot of “God and Country”, but my son came home a vegan (long story), so the entire week gave him an opportunity to clarify his values.</p>
<p>In our town, Girls State used to be one of the very highest teacher recommended honors. Over the last few years, the American Legion Auxiliary rep pretty much took over naming the delegates. While she is very committed, she is only naming little sisters of previous delegates and daughters of her own friends. Politics is my youngest daughter’s “thing”, so several teachers, the counselor and some former delegates had to go to bat for her to get her on the delegate roster after the lady did not choose her. She ended up being selected for Girls Nation while the delegates that the lady selected did not get much past local office. I don’t think this made a bit of difference to the local Auxiliary who have just gone on picking their favorites without faculty input. It worked out well for my daughter, however, since in conjunction with several other things on her resume it did become a “hook.”</p>