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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My HGS Wrap-Up...