My HGS Wrap-Up...

StephF — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 03:00:00 GMT

Now that I am home and done with Hoosier Girls State, I've been thinking about last week a lot and just wrapping up some loose ends. Of course, I still haven't completely unpacked....but I'm kind of planning ahead for next year...for instance, I am going to stock up on clearance 4th of July decorations....since patriotic items are always good to have around during HGS. But since I have been home, I have been thinking about the differences between my delegate year at Girls State, and being a counselor this year. Here are the most prominent ones that I have been thinking about...

How difficult it is to not talk about some things...as counselors, there are certain things that we don't talk to our citizens about until the very last night. For instance, if you are a young counselor who is obviously close in age to the girls, we don't tell them our true age, just in case they think that they don't have to listen to us just because we aren't much older than them. For some girls, they have tons of fun with this, because they make up big stories and such to tell the girls and make them think that we are older than we really are. I didn't do this because I was kind of scared to...haha. But there were times when my girls would try to catch me off guard and get hints from me about how old I was....and I ALMOST gave in. But I think I was pretty good at hiding it. :) We also don't tell our girls what political party we were in while we were at Girls State, and what offices we ran for. This was probably the hardest part for me, because there were so many times when I wanted to share things with the girls, like my past experiences and such...but at the same time, I am glad that I didn't say anything, because they each had to experience Hoosier Girls State for themselves. And I got to tell them about my days in Newman City on the last night anyway. :)
I loved getting to know the girls and especially the other ladies on staff. We always say that there are no words to describe Hoosier Girls State, and that is even more true now that I have been a counselor. It was just a whole new experience to know the people who were putting on all of our programs and organizing everything, and it made me appreciate every aspect of HGS so much more. At the beginning of the week it was sort of awkward, but by the end we were all like a family. Especially all of the counselors in my county. It was great because I knew that if I needed help, someone would be there for me no matter what, and they would make sure that I made it through the situation as easily as possible. :) I also loved seeing ladies who have been on staff for numerous years, you know why they come back year after year without even asking them. One of my favorite things to do each day was to just stop for awhile at the front desk of my hall and talk to the ladies who were volunteering to be our receptionists for the week. Being able to hear their stories about their lives, their husbands, their families, and just telling them about my day was always such a joy.

All in all, last week was amazing. So amazing that I can't imagine next summer without leaving a spot for HGS. I put together a video of different programs and such that we had last week just to give you a better idea of what it was all about. :) Enjoy!

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HGS 2009 - Stars & Stripes Forever

StephF — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 16:57:00 GMT

So I am officially finished with HGS 2009! It was an outrageous week....full of lots of long nights...lots of walking....lots of voting and speeches...and even more fun! I am crazy tired and I almost fell asleep on my way home yesterday...but now I am home, and in the air conditioning...and im not surrounded by 646 senior girls. haha. Here's a recap on the rest of my week.....

Wednesday was the two-party rally, where the girls get the chance to get all pepped up and excited about their party's canidates for office. Here are the Democracy County counselors....and don't worry....everyone dresses up crazy!

Thursday- This was the day of the general election....which was amazing! The primaries were sort of difficult since it was the first time around for the girls (they basically run it all, I just oversee things), and there were more ballots to count and all. But the general election went so quickly and smoothly, it was wonderful!!! :) Then we found out who was elected to all of the offices, and there were 3 inaugeration ceremonies: city, county, and state. It was a busy day, getting everything ready for inaugerations and such...and the girls stayed pretty busy in their free time by decorating our city and getting ready for Friday...the best day of them all!

Friday- This was the day where everyone who was elected to an office got to do what their real life counterpart does, or meet them. Senators, representatives, and state officials went to the state house in Indy to meet the real state officials and pass bills and resolutions, and the city and county officials went to city hall or the courthouse in Terre Haute. Everyone also basically got to do "whatever they wanted". Now we didn't let them just have free reign on ISU, they were supervised...but they staged assasinations, they arrested people, they got married...basically they had the time of their lives. When I asked them what their favorite part of the week was, everyone always said Friday....because it is the best day after all. Friday night there was a talent show.....which was so much better this year than I had ever remembered! Now here is a photo of our city on Friday night before our city closing ceremony.

Yesterday was Honor Day....and I was so proud of my girls!!! They got the Governor's Award, which means that the did the best job on Friday as they were carrying out their jobs. And one of my girls was Democracy County Outstanding Girl and she is an alternate for Girls Nation! How exciting is that?? I was blessed with a pretty talented and amazing city! Overall, the week was stressful and tiring....but it was still an opportunity that I am so glad that I had the chance to take part in, and I can't wait to go back next year! If I could do it every week of the summer....I totally would! I love politics and government...and being able to teach the girls about that was such a blessing. Check back on here for a video all about HGS soon!

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My HGS Wrap-Up...

HGS 2009 - Stars & Stripes Forever