Students try on government jobs at Boys and Girls state

Tag : Students' Shoes
Gahanna students stepped into the shoes of fire-fighters, statehighway patrolmen, city mayors and other city, county and stateposts as they participated in this year's Buckeye Boys and GirlsState.

The American Legion Buckeye Boys and Girls State was held from June14-21 at Bowling Green State University and Ashland University.

High school juniors from across the state met for "hands onexperience in an intense study of campaigning, platformdevelopment, election process and office functioning," said BuckeyeBoys State Chairman Craig Reynolds, American Legion Gahanna Post797.

The Gahanna American Legion post originally sponsored eight boys,with one of the boys sponsored by the Sons of the American Legion,and five girls sponsored by the American Legion Auxiliary Unit 797.


Six alternates were upgraded to delegate status when other AmericanLegion posts were unable to fill their slots, Reynolds said.

Monika Wanis became an Ohio State Highway Patrol trooper for aweek, then attended junior cadet week at the Ohio State HighwayPatrol Academy.

"The state troopers looked like they had a lot of discipline and Iwanted to see what it would be like if I joined," she said.

"It seemed a little silly at first, stopping people and giving themtickets because they were holding a pop can, but we also checkedout a crash site, where we measured skid marks and did everythingthe highway patrol would do in case of an accident."

After cadet week, though, Wanis decided her future was not as atrooper.

"It is very tough and strenuous training, and in their six-monthtraining program, they gas you and mace you," she said. "But it wasreally interesting to go through some of the physical training andto learn about law enforcement."

Wanis enjoyed her Girls State experience.

"I learned to interact with lots of people and more about howgovernment functions," she said. "I was pretty clueless when I gotthere, but after caucuses and meetings, I think I have a muchbetter understanding of how government works."

Kelsey Driscoll ran for county engineer during her week at GirlsState and won the primary but lost in the general election.

"I was appointed a city position, director of public safety," shesaid. "It was interesting because I learned all the functions ofthat position, including having to designate parking lots on citystreets, which were the hallways outside the rooms, where thebusinesses were operating."

Driscoll is on the golf team, in theater and choir and has aninternship with Creative Image Photography, which will continue inthe fall.

Steve Ebersole, from post 797, said sponsors pay $300 per boy, and$225 per girl to send them to Buckeye Boys and Girls State.

"The school provides us with a list of young men and women who haveindicated an interest in government, then we interview them," hesaid. "I'm very proud of the program -- I think it is probably oneof the finest academic programs for high school youth outside ofthe school system."

Carole Ebersole, Girls State chairman, said the program "gives ouryoung women insight into our government and community."

"When the girls are assigned to a city or county position, they areassigned a party, but that party has no platform, so they have todevelop that themselves," she said. "It is a very creative process,because they have to decide what they stand for."

Students attending Buckeye Boys State were Chase Beckman, MarkBrand, Tin Yeung Cheung, Nathaniel Dueber, Evan Ecos, Adil Faquih,Jared Liston, Maxwell McKenna, Jason Miller, Seth Milum, MattNelson, Thomas Pinney, Evan Trout and Zachery Rozler, all fromGahanna Lincoln High School.

Girls attending Buckeye Girls State were Raleigh Harriott, CayleeWhipple, Monika Wanis and Kelsey Driscoll, from Gahanna LincolnHigh School and Rebecca Marks, from New Albany High School.

"I learned to interact with lots of people and more about howgovernment functions."

--Monika Wanis