I had to opportunity to go to Boy's State this year as a graduating junior. It was up at Weber State University and I'll have to say I was pretty stoked! I love to meet new people and learn new things, so this was the perfect opportunity for me. At Boy's State, we get to learn about how our government works. It is kinda like a simulation of government. There was around 250 boys that attended from the state of Utah. About 30 kids were put into each of 8 cities. We ran for city, county, and state positions as well as 2 National Senate positions. Now this experience felt like the real deal. There were elections, campaigning, and debates. I was so eager to learn all this new information.
Utah Boy's State started on Monday the 8th and ran until Friday the 12th. I was lucky enough to drive up to Ogden on Sunday evening so I wouldn't have to wake up at 5 AM on Monday morning and drive all the way up to WSU.
The first night was a little rough. I hadn't met many friends. The next morning was much better. I met most of the kids in my city. ENGELBRECHT! as they checked in. I felt a little more comfortable. Now the food was okay, but the rooms were freezing! They gave us one blanket each and this blanket was more like a garbage sack! I mean, It was thinner than a towel! Luckily I took my own blanket too and I and a few others snuck some more blankets from the basement ;)
Monday, we ran for county and state delegates. I made both :) as well as State Delegate Chairman. We decided our party platforms and our city candidates.
The rest of the week went on. By Tuesday, I was totally homesick. I hadn't really made close friends. I had some really funny people in my city though. They were all so smart and talented in their own different and quirky ways. I enjoyed them, but I still didn't have anybody that I was really close with. I missed my family and my 2 dearest friends back home. I ended up running for State Senator, State Representative, and County Attourney. I didn't make any of them, but I did go to the General Elections for State Representative. I was pretty excited about that! Also, my city won the Athletic Activities of the week. It was set up like the Amazing Race. There were all sorts of athletics that we had to do.
One thing I did not like so much was the time management. We would wake up at 6:00 AM every morning and then we wouldn't get to bed until 12 AM! We had seminars all day long...which I couldnt stay awake during most of the time...and then we had meals, and more seminars! :) all in all I had alot of fun.
Thursday was our last night at Boy's State. We ended up getting our graduation slips that evening. Our two counselors, btw, were THE COOLEST! Clint, who was a police was the coolest guy I ever met. He was extremely funny and very motivating. Gary, was an old fart, but I loved his dear heart. He was extremely funny also...in his old-mannish ways. Thursday Night, we all wanted to do something outrageous. A bunch of the boys in my city, including me, stripped down to our nickers and tied our bed sheets around us like togas! We were having a toga party! It was hillarious and super fun! We ran on all 12 floors, except 10 (they were onery), and we yelled, "TOGA! TOGA! TOGA!". Man, It was great fun! We went outside and ran around a bit. We then found out that the supervisors were after us so we snucky up the stairwell. We made it to our floor, hurry threw on some clothes, and pretended it was us. :) well it was :) That was so much fun! We then started telling jokes. We told some many jokes, some dumb, some hillarious, and some just plain stupid (which we laughed at anyways because of other people's laughs). Then we were delighted to watch our friend Suit's monologue, which was extremely awkward and very professional at the same time. It was on Homosexuality. Very Hillarious haha! Then everybody simmered off to bed. Except a few of us. Me, Alexander, Dillon, Suit, and Kalon. We started telling jokes like you never believe! I was laughing so hard. Harder than I've ever laughed before! I swear! It was so much fun. Kalon, who was in my city, but I never had the chance to talk to, became my friend. haha. We stayed up and talked and laughed and joked until almost 3 in the morning! It was ridiculous! We also had to wake up at 6 AM for graduation practice and all...but we didn't care. "helen keller is awesome" by the way ;) We still didn't even go to sleep until 4 because we were still laughing so hard! It was super fun!
I ended up recieving a $1300 scholarship to WSU. Graduation went super! It was kinda sad to leave. I really did make some new friends up there that were the greatest! I encourage anybody to go to it! It is so amazing!
