This past summer I had the best experience of my life. I was chosen to attend Girls" State at Iowa State University. This is a program sponsored by the American Legion Auxiliary. I don't think I've ever had a week so full of friendships and new knowledge. .
Going into the week I had no idea what to expect. All I knew, was there were going to be 322 girls from different towns that were just as "clueless" as I was. I also knew this was a program about government, which I knew nothing about. Even though I had many questions, I was ready to jump right in.
Jump right in is exactly what I did. The first thing I did after I got there was eat lunch. I sat at a large table so when it filled up, I could meet several people right away. It worked! I got to know these girls very well. Good friends were made but I was a little unsure about the food. Our first meal was mashed potatoes and pancakes. .
We had to conduct our first elections that afternoon. This was tough because we could only go off of first impressions. I ran for all three offices and was shot down each time. I knew though, that there were bigger and better jobs out there for me. The day continued and the process for the next day was explained thoroughly. .
Monday morning came and we all knew we had our work cut out for us. Today was the day we elected and set up our city government. I ran for mayor but didn't quite make the ballot. This didn't phase me though because I then ran for and was elected to the first ever city council of McLaughlin. I say the first ever city of McLaughlin, because McLaughlin was just established for the 2003 session of Girls" State. This was the city I was assigned to live in. City council was a tough job but we got the job done.
After all of this socialization and governmental experimenting, we were just getting started. We split into our two political parties, Federalist and Nationalist. We were then told this would be our chance to make the ballot for our party's candidate for state office.
