http://www.calegion.org/html/boys_state.html
The
American Legion Boys State session is
sponsored and funded by the American Legion Department of California
and the
individual American Legion Posts participating. Approximately
960 young men from all over the state attend this
weeklong session. The session lasts for
seven days and is hosted by the California State University Sacramento. The session will include visiting the
California State Capitol and meet with the Assembly and with the
Governor. At the conclusion of the
session, a governor
and a senator are elected to represent the session.
Also, the session elects two senators to attend the American
Legion Boys Nation Program. The
individuals selected as senators will travel to Washington DC and meet
with
Congress and the President of the United States.
As
a program of The American Legion, Boys State developed from the
concept
that youth should be offered a better perspective of the practical
operation of government; that the individual is an integral part
and
commensurately responsible for the character and success of his
government. As such, it is an activity of high educational value,
born
out of a need for youth training in practical citizenship.
American
Legion Boys State is easily classified as a leadership action
program
where qualified male high school juniors take part in a practical
government course designed to develop in the young citizens a
working
knowledge of the structure of government and to impress upon them
the
fact that government is just what they make it.
Objectives
and Goals
A
program of this scope encompasses many important objectives. Those
which we, The American Legion, feel are most important and for
which we
strive the hardest are:
To develop
civic leadership and pride in American citizenship.
It
is our earnest hope that each young man attending a Boys
State will
return to his community a better citizen and that we will
have aroused
in him a desire to demonstrate this fact by his willingness to
make
civic contributions that will help to make his community a better
place
in which to live.
To arouse a
keen interest in the detailed study of our government.
Here
we desire to create more than just a passive interest in
the actual
study of government; we strive to create an interest that will be
born
of the desire for knowledge.
To develop an
understanding of American traditions and belief in the United
States of America.
Here we desire to impress upon the young men the
glorious traditions which have made this country what it is today.
To arouse in
the young citizens a determination to maintain our form of
government.
This
we attempt to accomplish in many ways but primarily by bringing
them
into the full realization of how wonderful it is to be an
American!
BOYS NATION
http://www.legion.org/programs/youthprograms/boystate
Two outstanding representatives from each of 49 Boys States are called
upon to represent their state at American Legion Boys Nation in
Washington, DC. It is here that the young leaders, who had excelled at
their respective Boys States, are introduced to the structure and
function of the federal government.