At 5 a.m. my alarm goes off in my dorm room, and up I get from my warm bed to go run. After we run a few miles I head back to my room to get showered and in my uniform to meet for breakfast and flag raising. Then we head to general session. It was one of the longest, most exhausting weeks of my life, but still one of the best.
Girls’ State is an experience that I will never forget. I may have been shy at first, but it did not take me long at all to open up. I was placed in Albright County, named after Madeleine Albright (the first woman to ever become Secretary of State) with 30 other girls. I was a Nationalist.
Everyday we would raise and lower the American Flag as a whole state. We would attend general sessions everyday as well, both within our counties, and our political parties (Nationalists, and Federalists). Every day was a competition between our counties, and parties. We were always chanting on the way to general session.
Our mythical 51st state was run exactly the way any other state is run. We had political positions of every kind. We even had committees that would take on different tasks such as creating bills to propose to the Senate of our state. I was on the Criminal Justice Committee, and our bill passed.
Within my specific county we ran for offices as well. I was Press Secretary (pretty much a journalist at all times), I had a little press pass and everything. Everyday I would write a little news article about what went on that day. Whether it be at the Nationalist party meeting or at our County meetings. It would get published the next morning in our Empire Girls’ Gazette.
A lot of different things happened while I was at Brockport for Girls’ State, I even got to be a Defending Attorney one night while we held mock court. It was a really different, but interesting experience.
Girls’ State was a lot of fun, but it was also a very serious time. We had guest speakers of all kinds, even Senator Kirsten Gillibrand came to speak to us one day. We learned proper flag etiquette, we took classes on Americanism, and we never stopped using our Parli Pro (Parliamentary Procedure). Everywhere you turned you would hear a girl saying “I move to nominate…” or ” I second that!” That is just the way we had to talk.
Needless to say I was petrified to go alone, because I was the only girl from WHS who went. Although, in the end it was the best decision I could have made. My experience was incredible. I will never forget the girls I met. I have made friendships that will last a lifetime. I came in just like any other teenage girl would, but I left with 400 Empire Girls’ State sisters that will be my friends forever.
