Eight local teenagers were able to spend a piece of their summer on a once-in-a-lifetime trip, visitng the University of Mount Union in Alliance and Miami University in Oxford to take part in Buckeye Boys State and Buckeye Girls State.

“The girls had a seven-day program at Mount Union,” said American Legion Post 177 Commander Mike Kubitza, “and the boys had an eight-day program at Miami University.”

Buckeye State programs are open to high schoolers entering their senior year. Each campus is emptied out, and the dorms are turned over to the program for a week. The rooms, halls, floors and buildings are set up as cities, townships, counties and regions that have to function as a government entity. Candidates also have to run for offices and will have an important role in the operation of the mock government.

To be eligible for the Buckeye programs, candidates must have completed their junior year of high school and have at least one semester of school left prior to graduation, according to information provided by Kubitza. The candidates must be Ohio residents and a U.S. citizen, and must believe in the ideals of God and country. Local American Legion Posts sponsor candidates at a fee of $300 per student.

BUCKEYE GIRLS

Buckeye Girls State candidates are assigned to a political party when they arrive. It helps as they learn the structure of a party and the role political parties play in government.

“I was assigned to the Federalist Party of Hobart city in Thatcher County,” Gwen Lolakis of Canfield said. “During the first half of the week I learned a lot about what goes on behind the scenes of an election and how chaotically organized it can be. In the second half of the week I learned how the court system works and how a courtroom should be run.”

Just as elections are held for an office, Buckeye Girls State operates in a similar fashion. Lokalis was elected to be City Central Committeeman and was in charge of counting the votes in her city throughout the elections, then had a city job for the second half of the week.

Catherine Esper of Canfield also was assigned to the Federalist Party and said she learned a lot on the importance of campaigning.

“I noticed that the girls who held the top seven positions carefully designed their campaign in a way to attract a large crowd of people,” Esper said. “Public speaking skills, connection with the audience and giving active effort in one-on-one talks with a targeted group is vital to shaping a good campaign. I also learned how county and state caucuses work and the responsibility placed on the candidate to implement the party’s vision.”

Esper ran for the position of chief justice, but lost in the state primary. She ended up staying in the judicial branch serving as an appellate attorney and had the experience of writing a brief and giving an oral argument in both the Appeals and Supreme courts.

Brook Kirila of Brookfield tried for attorney general, but didn’t get enough votes. She ended up as a city councilwoman.

“City Council was a great experience because you get to hear from citizens on a smaller scale on what they wanted to see in the community,” Kirila said. “So it was easier to create laws and ordinances that worked for everyone.”

BUCKEYE BOYS

On the Buckeye Boys State program, held at Miami University, the set up was similar. Candidates were assigned to a party, ran for office and held a government position.

Christopher Smallwood of Canfield took on his role at Boys State by being appointed as head of the Bureau of Workers’ Compensation.

“I was tasked with finding a staff and learning as much as I could about the BWC in a short amount of time,” Smallwood said. “I was lucky to be able to talk with a member from the Ohio BWC, named Mark Shearman, who was such a great help with explaining he importance of the office and what we could do with it at Boys State.”

Scott Crawford, also of Canfield, served as city treasurer at Boys State. He said it was an interesting week, and he was glad the opportunity to go was there.

“I took home just how much work goes into city, county and state government to keep them running and the only way it runs smoothly is if everyone does their job and to the best of their ability,” Crawford said. “I also learned just how many appointed and elected positions are needed to run each level of government.”

Aaron Ferguson of Austintown was appointed to the Department of Health and had a big real-life task to handle.

“My department and I were focused primarily on the success of the blood drive that occurred on the last full day of the program,” he said. “The blood drive is the largest in the region, and during this season of severe blood shortage, this group of boys was tasked with signing up as many of the other delegates and participants as possible. On the day of the blood drive, it was a humbling experience to see our efforts come together and help accomplish some amazing, life-saving action.”

Jacob Wilkeson of Canfield served his Boys State experience as the city school board treasurer.

“I had to manage the budget of the school and make sure we were bringing in more money than we were spending,” Wilkeson said. “Overall it was a very good experience. I made some friends and learned a lot about how the government operates and how all the different parts work together. It was a great learning experience and I would recommend others to go if they have the opportunity.”

Josh Farley, also of Canfield, ran for House of Representatives, but lost the election. One of his roommates won the election as mayor, which helped Farley land a good position.

“I lost in a close election, so our mayor (who was also my roommate) appointed me as his personal clerk,” Farley said. “I helped him by taking care of paycheck distribution and deposits in our city government offices. I was also deputy registrar, which comes along with the clerk job, so I got every resident of our city (Koppin) registered for their driver’s license.”

Like the others, Farley learned a lot about government and team work.

All eight students were thankful for the opportunity to attend the program. Less than half said they were considering a career path in politics or law. Those who were undecided or looking at other career paths said they still took away a lot from having participated.

“Aside from all I learned about government itself, I learned a lot about how to communicate with people from all walks of life,” Kirila said. “I met girls from all over Ohio. Some had thousands of people in their graduating class, and one girl I met only had two. Coming from the small town of Brookfield, I don’t meet very many different people. I gained a lot of respect and empathy for people who have grown up under different circumstances than I. I think this will make me a better citizen overall because I can use this knowledge to vote for representatives that will work for not only me, but people like the girls I met at Mount Union.”

jtwhitehouse@vindy.com