Boys Nation is an annual civic training event run by the American Legion.
Each year, two delegates in the summer after their junior year of high school are selected from each of the forty-nine American Legion Boys State programs in the U.S. (Hawaii does not host a Boys State). These delegates attend the week-long event in Washington, DC.
The event endeavors to teach delegates about the processes of Federal government of the United States through taking part in a mock Senate and mock elections of a Boys Nation Senate President Pro Tempore, Senate Secretary, Vice President, and President. Senators also attend lectures and forums, visiting governmental institutions and historical sites. Tom Brokaw and former president Bill Clinton have been involved. It is a tradition for the student senators to take a private tour of the White House and be received by the current president.
Students assume the role of a United States Senator, representing their respective (Boys) State. They write and introduce bills and debate in the senate chambers. Delegates are split into political parties and draft a party platform as well as perform usual party duties like nominations for president and vice-president, along with elected party leadership.
Senators tour D.C. memorials, get private tours of the United States Supreme Court, Congress, and State Department.
The American Legion Auxiliary runs a similar event called Girls Nation.
Read more about Boys Nation: Executive Branch (2012), Executive Branch (2011), Executive Branch (2010), Political Parties (2012), Political Parties (2011), Political Parties (2010), Senate Leadership (2012), Senate Leadership (2011), Senate Leadership (2010), Senators (2012), Senators (2010), Former Senators (Notable Alumni)
Famous quotes containing the words boys and/or nation:
“But boys and girls, pale from the imagined love
Of solitary beds, knew what they were,
That passion could bring character enough
And pressed at midnighht in some public place
Live lips upon a plummet-measured face.”
—William Butler Yeats (1865–1939)
“If the children and youth of a nation are afforded opportunity to develop their capacities to the fullest, if they are given the knowledge to understand the world and the wisdom to change it, then the prospects for the future are bright. In contrast, a society which neglects its children, however well it may function in other respects, risks eventual disorganization and demise.”
—Urie Bronfenbrenner (b. 1917)