<p>Have any of you done Boys or Girls state? Was it fun? I like gov and I thought it would be fun to do. I'm pretty sure no one in my school has ever even heard of it so really I'd just have to have my consoler sign it and I'd be in. But I don't want to hate it and want to go home the whole time. The deadline is coming up so please share your expirences!</p>
<p>I had a great experience. I met a lot of great girls whom I still talk with. It was pretty fun drafting a platform and campaigning. I was chosen as one of two girls to go on to Girls Nation which was an even greater experience. If you’d like to go I say go for it.</p>
<p>I also went to Girls State (Florida). I can honestly say it was one of the best experiences of my life and I am so, so happy I did it! If you go, be prepared to work really, really hard–the pace can be super intense! We had to get up really early and we had meetings until like 11 at night. If you go, a couple words of advice:</p>
<p>-If you’re told to write a bill (in FL everyone had to but I know it’s different in every state), make sure it’s very unique, and focus on a very specific issue that’s meaningful to you. I started out with a bill I would have loved to see pass that would have comprehensively reformed elections in my state, an issue I’m very familiar with and care deeply about. But I thought it would be too difficult to get it passed, so at the last minute I scrapped it and wrote a bill about texting while driving. BIG mistake. At least 30 other people had the exact same idea. I combined my bill with another girl’s but it still got lost in the crowd. The transportation committee ended up scrapping EVERY bill on this topic because they didn’t want to deal with it. I really regret not going with my original idea.</p>
<p>-Don’t write a bill that has anything to do with education. When I was there, half the bills were education related. I was on the education committee and we didn’t even get through a third of the bills because there were just too many. Also make sure it is very clear from the title and language of your bill which committee it belongs to. If your bill gets sent to the wrong committee they might kill it out of annoyance. It’s harsh, but when there are 300 bills and only a handful can make it to the house or senate floor, they will look for any reason to kill a bill.</p>
<p>-On a similar note, make sure your bill is tight, perfectly clear, and completely free of any loopholes or redundancies. Read it many times. Show it to any and all lawyers you meet. Turn up at a political party meeting, flag down the first legislative aide you meet, and ask them to quickly skim it. Better yet, if you have to interview an elected official before you go, ask them to read it. If you want you can PM it to me and I’ll be happy to read it. I saw SO many terrible bills at Girls State. These bills are either thrown out right away, or worse, they make it to one of the houses where they’re amended twenty times, torn to pieces in debate, and eventually tabled because people get sick of it. You want your bill to make it through quickly and without hassle.</p>
<p>Sample terrible bill on texting while driving (I just made it up, but I saw bills that were this bad):</p>
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</p>
<p>Your bill MUST explain exactly what is being banned (or allowed). In this bill, it says texting while driving is banned, but what about phone calls? Email? Facebook? What if there’s an emergency? And what about the punishment? Should there be a fine? Jail time? Loss of license? What if it’s a repeat offense? Should it be worse if there’s a child in the car? What if the driver causes an accident? How can a state tell a federal department what to do? And how will this be funded?</p>
<p>It’s usually best to find the applicable statute and amend it to say what you want. And check your state’s constitution! Some things need to be a constitutional amendment, not a bill.</p>
<p>-Don’t play politics. I expected a bunch of partisan political junkies like myself, but most of the delegates were just top students with some interest in government. My roommate was in band and plans to study engineering. My city included dancers, 4H members, ROTC types, athletes, you name it. The governor plans on studying environmental science or something. So having the fanciest campaign posters, or running around introducing yourself to every single person like you’re running for Congress will NOT help. Instead, have actual conversations with the people you meet, don’t obsess over the elections, and give a solid, knowledgeable speech. And make sure you run for an office you’re really interested in and think you can do well in. Don’t just run for governor because you can. Being in the Senate was really fun and probably more fun than Governor would have been. In hindsight I should have run for party chair, which would have perfectly suited my interests. Oh well.</p>
<p>Good luck! PM me with any more questions.</p>
<p>Wow thanks for taking the time to type all that up! That’s was really helpful! I have some more questions but I can’t pm you since this is my new account and I don’t have enough posts on this one (forgot my old password haha) so could you pm me? :)</p>
<p>An excellent point. Don’t be that girl (or guy) who immediately introduces her/himself to everyone, and especially don’t combine that with overly perky handshakes and whatnot. It comes off as really fake, like all you want is to be elected. The real fun is meeting amazing people from around the state and being able to try your hand at government.</p>
<p>I absolutely loved it! It was seriously one of the best weeks ever. Sometimes I’m shy around people I don’t know, but that wasn’t an issue because none of the other girls knew people in our city (you get divided into cities, counties, etc.). I have a huge interest in government and loved it! It was also more than just campaigns and writing bills. You will meet some great people, and if your state has speakers, it adds to the program. The speakers were on everything from politics to etiquette. The only advice I have is to be genuine and have fun</p>
<p>My DS went last summer and really enjoyed it, and it looks nice on your college apps as well.</p>
<p>I applied this year! Interviews are February 1st for my school. I really want to go to Girl’s Nation as well but I’ll just worry about Girl’s State for now.</p>
<p>What was your bill?</p>
<p>How do you get chosen to go to Nation? Like should I just shoot for governor? And I was handpicked by my principal to go to Boys State…is Boys State itself at all prestigious?</p>
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<p>Actually, it kinda is. It looks pretty good on applications, from what I’ve head. Better than the ones you have to pay to go to.</p>
<p>I kind of hated it. Partially my fault, since I didn’t get involved from day one, so I was out of the loop for the rest of the week.
This all said, none of the people seemed particularly pleasant. Especially when they started catcalling girls that were on the campus for summer classes. >_></p>
<p>IDK whether to apply, the video on the website showed mostly white people, and I am pretty nervous when I am the sole minority of a group</p>
<p>^Well you’ve still got a little while if you’re just a freshman.</p>
<p>I was chosen to apply for Boys State, but I decided not to in the end. It was partly because I’m more into STEM than gov, but also because of some things that a friend of mine that went said about it:</p>
<p>1) It’s all politics. It’s not really about government and governing, but rather the art of being a politician. To me, that was a big red flag since I have a strong distrust of politicians.</p>
<p>2) The quality of people there was mixed. There were some who were clearly intelligent, while others were absolutely horrid.</p>
<p>Again, this is just what I heard from someone who went. It may be different in your state, and other people may have different feelings about it. I would recommend asking people from your state/school who have gone if possible.</p>
<p>@Apollo</p>
<p>Idk about Boys State, but Girls State was super diverse. The way it works is that each post/chapter chooses someone to go. So posts in areas with a lot of minorities are more likely to choose minority students. I thought Girls State mirrored the racial diversity of my state very closely - slight majority white, with a lot of hispanics, several black and a few Asian.</p>
<p>@Cheerios</p>
<p>That’s interesting that you heard that, since when I went to Girls State, I find it exactly the opposite - I actually thought it could use more politics. Like I said, people who campaigned heavily were frowned upon, and a lot of people weren’t even that interested in politics.</p>
<p>Of course there were a few people who didn’t deserve to be chosen, but that happens anywhere you go. If you’re interested in politics, you will definitely have to deal with those types of people, so you may as well get used to it!</p>
<p>Sent from my SPH-D710VMUB using CC</p>
<p>I’m going to Girls State this year and I’m definitely interested in interviewing for Girls Nation. I know it’s a long shot, but I was wondering if anyone could give me some advice on the interview and the whole process of running for state senator.</p>
<p>Never got a chance to go. School isn’t good about informing us about those things.</p>
<p>The process for Girls Nation varies by state. Some states interview certain girls in front of the staff and choose that way. Other girls were simply chosen by the staff. In NY, and possibly some others (I can’t specifically remember) we ran for the Girls Nation Senator office. First two girls from each party in each county were selected by their counties to move on to the real election process. Then we each had to answer a question, one at a time, in front of our respective parties. We didn’t see the question or each others’ answers. Our parties voted and the top five girls from each party moved on to the final round. In the final round, we each gave a speech to all the girls and staff at Girls State (without seeing each others’ speeches.) The whole body then voted, and we found out the results at our ceremony that night. It was super exhilarating, and I’m glad I could have a hand in getting selected.</p>
<p>All I know is Boys State better kick ass because I’m missing like 45 grad parties.</p>