Cael Fisher, who will soon start his senior year at Greene County High School, admits he was at first reluctant to attend Boys State, but said, “I’m so glad I stepped out of my comfort zone and did.”
American Legion Boys State was held June 9-14 at Camp Dodge. He was sponsored by Post 11 of Jefferson, and he spoke about his experiences at the post’s July meeting.
Boys State is hands-on training on the rights and responsibilities of U.S. citizenship. Participants learn the structure of city, county and state governments, and each one is elected to an office. Fisher was elected as state treasurer.
“The boys in my barracks and one other worked together to run elections, accept the responsibility of an office, and get to experience, to a small degree, how democracy works,” Fisher wrote in a recap. “Through these experiences we learned a lot about citizenship, teamwork, and leadership.”
Fisher is an important part of the Ram football, basketball and soccer teams, and he said the sports activities at Boys State, along with other activities, made the camp more fun and helped create better relationships with the boys in his barracks.
Boys State is open only to boys between their junior and senior years of high school, but Fisher wrote that he’d go again if he could because of “all the lessons I learned, the great people that spoke and the amazing moments I was ale to share with some new friends that I’ll keep forever.”
He thanked American Legion Post 11 for sending him.
Fisher was presented a certificate by Post 11 commander Phil Thompson at the July 8 meeting.
