Boys & Girls State to Bring Hundreds of High School Seniors to Tuscaloosa

An annual, weeklong civic education camp will bring hundreds of the state’s best and brightest high school seniors to the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa over the next two weeks.

The Capstone will host Boys and Girls State, organized through the American Legion and American Legion Auxiliary, and a UA spokesperson said the two events will draw around 600 rising high school seniors in late May and early June.

The young leaders come to Tuscaloosa each year to learn about state government through an experimental process that allows them to elect, from among themselves, a smaller-scale model of a functioning government.

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Alabama Boys State will take place May 24-30, and Alabama Girls State will follow May 31-June 5.

"We look forward to hosting around 600 of the top students from across the state at the 89th American Legion Alabama Boys State, where our goal is to build leaders who understand their rights and responsibilities as citizens and develop a commitment to serve their communities, their state and their nation," said retired Air Force Col. Mark Valentine, director of Alabama Boys State. "While we use a mock government delivery method for our programming, Boys State is not focused on building future politicians. Our staff and the nationally recognized speakers we bring in are focused on preparing our delegates to be good citizens and lead across multiple disciplines, including business, medicine, law, academia, law enforcement and just about every subject in between."

Speakers, including incumbent Governor Kay Ivey, U.S. Senator Katie Britt, and a host of city, county and state officials, will bring real-world experience to discussions and allow the high schoolers to meet the people holding the offices they learn about during their visit.

“Girls State is designed to provide the best training possible in practical leadership, citizenship engagement and constitutional democracy,” said Lee Sellers, director of American Legion Auxiliary Alabama Girls State. “This will be our 84th session of Girls State, and we know from experience that our delegates increase their knowledge about Alabama, grow their leadership skills, and understand the importance of active, citizen participation in the communities throughout our great state. Within a week, our delegates gain a comprehensive awareness of all aspects of government and the role they can play by attentive patriotism."

Although most of their time will be spent on the University of Alabama campus and in dorms left empty for the summer, Boys and Girls State delegates will also travel to Montgomery to tour the Capitol and meet with additional elected officials.

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