Boys State, Girls State good experience for students

By Dan Bechtold

Editor

Ryan Sell and Marissa Meiners learned a lot from their experience of attending Boys State and Girls State.

Both will be seniors at Winner High School and spoke to the Winner Rotary Club on July 8.

Boys State was held at Northern State University and Girls State was held at the University of South Dakota. They are sponsored by the American Legion and the American Legion Auxiliary.

Meiners represented the city of Seattle and was elected a police woman. She was also elected a senator. In the senate she served on the health committee and read bills that had been proposed.

Meiners said she enjoyed listening to the speakers and being around so many different girls. “It felt like we were part of  a community,” she said.

 Among some of the speakers  at Girls State and also Boys State were Gov. Kristi Noem, Sen. John Thune and Rep. Dusty Johnson.

Sell represented the city of New York.

He ran for the position of chief justice of the supreme court.

He explained this is one of the hardest positions to win and the reason he ran was because there was scholarship money tied to the position.

Sell noted it was basic campaign and hanging up posters asking other Boys Staters to vote for him. As a candidate he also had to give a speech on why he should be elected chief justice. Thought he was not elected, he explained it was a good experience.

At Boys State Sell got a strong sense of community. “I had a lot of fun and enjoyed listening to the speakers,” he said.

For some fun at Boys State, an Olympic day was held.

Meiners and Sell will find their experience at Boys and Girls State helpful in government class this year.