<p>Interested in firsthand experiences. What do you need to know to apply, was it worthwhile, how to nail the interview, etc.
thanks</p>
<p>Well you get nominated by your history teacher, along with a few other select students(of the same gender). Then the chairperson will come to your school and interview all the nominees, picking the delegate he/she thinks is most suited for the experience. The chairperson asks you very routine questions(name,address, how are your grades, GPA, college/aspirations, extracurriculars, etc.) They like well-rounded students, who get good grades, but also do other stuff like sports/clubs/volunteer, etc. However, they tend to have a bias for students interested in Law or Political Science & who seem “peoplish”. I think the most important thing is to be yourself. I’ll be going to Girls State (California) this summer & honestly the interview isn’t as hard as they make it seem. I was nervous, but it turned out easy. It’s like 2months away, so te excitement hasn’t kicked in yet.</p>
<p>One more thing, out of all the five girls interviewed, I was the only girl who planned on majoring in PoliSci in college then go to law school after. The four other girls were all going into the medical field. I think that’s the only reason why i got delegate because the girls state experience would seem most relevant for a future polisci/law student. So if you’re interested in pursuing a career in law/polisci or anything related, you have a higher chance of being accepted.</p>
<p>Great info, Determined, thanks so much for sharing your experience. Can you report back after you attend?</p>
<p>Sure. I’ll try not to forget lol</p>
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<p>This wasn’t my experience at all.</p>
<p>Girls State and Boys State programs vary from state to state. However, the actual SELECTION process varies from city to city and even school to school. I attended Girls State last summer. Some girls in my city had to apply and were interviewed. I didn’t. All I did was submit my name and my guidance counselor chose four girls who submitted their names. Two were delegates and two were alternates. The first two couldn’t go, so me and the other alternate ended up going. Basically the Auxiliary just offers our school 2 Girls State spots and 2 Boys State spots each year. The number of spots that your school gets is entirely up to your local Auxiliary/Legion post. The richer the post, the more spots. On top of that, sometimes the post covers your full cost (program costs, housing, food, etc.) but sometimes they don’t. My local post covered everything except a registration fee of $30 and a room deposit of $40 which we received back at the end of the week when we turned in our key. Some girls in my city paid full price though, while others paid absolutely nothing.</p>
<p>Personally, I am not interested in law at all and I still found it to be really fun. (My father’s a lawyer and I just know that I don’t want to go down that path.)</p>
<p>But there are some values that are held deeply within the GS/BS program:
- God. If you’re not religious, then don’t say you aren’t. It’s run by a religious group of people. I remember we had Vespers every night and there were like 5 or 6 positions that were elected for just Vespers. We had it as a city and as a state.
- Country. Make sure that you tell them how proud you are to be an American and how you support and look up to our troops. Remember the Auxiliary/Legion is made up of military members and their families. Some of them gave up their family members for this country.
- Be interested in learning about your local government. I emphasize local, because you don’t really get into state government until about halfway through the week. The first half is city government and county government and county parties. And you never do anything federal. That’s done at Girl’s Nation.</p>
<p>Well there’s 8schools in my district, & our legion is only allowing one female delegate from each school with all paid expenses, except a $50 deposit.</p>
<p>I didn’t know you could apply to be in Girl’s State. I thought membership was nomination-based.</p>
<p>GS/BS is religious? Lol well I’m secretary of Christian club. I guess that might’ve also helped me.</p>
<p>I wasn’t aware of the religious component, either. Anyone else experience this?</p>
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I wasn’t aware of this either.</p>
<p>Wow, you guys’ interview processes sounds a lot different then mine. I guess my American Legion post must be pretty rich because they send something like 6 guys and 8 girls from my school district every year. For our interview, all the boys from my school district who had been chosen by their respective schools to be interviewed were lined up at a table facing high-ranking members from our American Legion post. We were then all asked 3 random politics questions in which we had one minute to formulate a response and then one of the other interviewees would then have 30 seconds for a rebuttal. It was pretty high pressure and honestly the only reason I was even selected to go to Boys State was because I got questions that I was able to answer. The majority of the other questions I would have had pretty crappy answers (I’m not much for politics).</p>
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They’re not religious per se, but they do make it clear that they stand by God and country (or at least they do in Ohio). And at my orientation meeting one the regional American Legion leaders said that anyone who was unwilling to say the Pledge of Allegiance shouldn’t bother going to Boys State if that tells you anything.</p>
<p>I agree with AU Girl that it is good to show patriotism and you shouldn’t mention it if you’re not religious. Also, you may want to keep in mind that the majority of American Legion members are Conservative. That doesn’t mean that they don’t select liberal students, but if you’re liberal, I wouldn’t take it too far. For example, I’m pretty liberal, but on a gun control question, I decided to play to their Conservative bias.</p>
<p>The Boys State selection process was somewhat similar to Browniez’s. Essentially, you had to pick up a one-page application from the counselor, fill it out and then return it. They asked simple questions such as your highest ACT score, your clubs/activities, etc. – the usual. </p>
<p>From there, a representative from the American Legion visited the school to interview all applicants. With Boys State, they simply took each applicant to a room and interviewed them one at a time. The questions they asked us were fairly simple. They asked basic questions about the state government, United States Constitution, and about our involvement in clubs/organizations. With Girls State, they asked the same questions but they held the interviews in a group format.</p>
<p>In Boys State, all six of the applicants were accepted into Boys State. However, with Girls State, only 2 of the around 15 applicants were selected.</p>
<p>interesting, so the selection process really seems to differ from location to location. Hard to know exactly what to expect. Maybe need to talk to recent participants from the area. Meantime, please keep the information coming, very helpful.</p>
<p>I live in Indiana, and I went to Girls State this past summer. It was honestly a great experience, and I don’t regret it one bit, not even the week without air conditioning.</p>
<p>The process does vary from city to city even within one state. There isn’t a limit on how many kids can go from each school. Just Auxiliaries can only sponsor up to two girls. My grandma used to be an active member of her auxiliary, and she still has friends that are still involved. So last year she asked if I wanted to go, I said yes, and her friend brought the paperwork by my school. The same thing happened with about five other girls in my school. We’re all in the same girl scout troop, and our leader is in the American Legion, so she set it up with other legions to send our girls. Everything was free for us.</p>
<p>The legion’s motto has something in it to the extent of: For God and Country, so both of those things are emphasized at Girls/Boys State. At Girls State, we had prayer twice a day. Once when the flag was raised and once when the flag was taken down. We had vespers every night, but those were mostly used to reflect on our days and for us to bond as a city. I know in my city, one night we all talked about our biggest struggles and ended up using half a box of Kleenex between 30 girls. Anyways, I digress. They don’t exactly push religious beliefs on you, but when they pray, just bow your head and share in the amen.</p>
<p>I’m going to GS in Arkansas this summer! My school nominates 2 girls and 2 boys but GS and BS are at different universities. GS is at Harding University (a religious school) and their motto reflects that…they said if that is conflicting to the nominee then they shouldn’t attend, so maybe GS does have a religious backing.</p>
<p>Im going to BS this summer in Washington! The interview was easy, although when asked what my post high school plans were, when i responded with college, the interviewer said “did you think about joining the military at all?” O_O</p>